Link to leader's US visit denied

Beijing: China will continue its currency reforms and recent yuan gains are not due to Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington, a top Chinese diplomat said yesterday.

Vice-foreign minister Cui Tiankai said China had constantly advanced exchange rate reforms.

"As for reform of the renminbi exchange rate formation mechanism, we have been always advancing reform for all these years, and in the future we will also resolutely and unwaveringly advance such reforms," he told a news conference.

"But if one believed that because of a high-level visit we would make a move on the exchange rate, that would truly amount to currency manipulation," Cui said, when asked whether Xi has anything new to say on the yuan during his visit.

The yuan hovered near 6.2970 per dollar yesterday, a day after it broke the 6.30 level.

Meeting with Obama

The tightly held yuan has gained more than 8 per cent since it was depegged from the dollar in June 2010.

Xi, considered China's president-in-waiting, will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday. The US visit will be a major step in signalling Xi's readiness to take over as China's next top leader.