Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
The government wants to create an exchange-rate mechanism based on "market demand for and supply of" the currency, Wen said in a speech carried by the official Xinhua news agency. He didn't give a time frame, adding China plans to keep the yuan "basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level."
Wen's comments come amid intensifying speculation over the future of the yuan, fixed at about 8.3 to the dollar since 1995.
The US and other countries including Japan have pressured China to let the yuan rise, arguing the fixed link undervalues the currency and gives the country an unfair trading advantage.
"If the government were to set the yuan's exchange rate based on current demand for the currency, it would have to revalue it," said Chris Leung, an economist with DBS Bank Hong Kong Ltd. "More people are converting their foreign assets into yuan because they expect it to appreciate in value."
A US Treasury-led team visited Beijing last week for two days of talks on financial-system changes that may pave the way for a more flexible currency, as Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a US television interview that China is "committed" to moving toward a free-floating yuan.
China's foreign reserves surged by a record 40.7 percent last year to US$403 billion and increased by a further US$13 billion to US$416 billion in January.
"If the inflow of foreign exchange continues, the Chinese government would have no choice but to widen the yuan's trading band," Leung said. "The government has to manage market expectations and say explicitly what its currency policy will be to stop the speculation."
The timing of any change remains unknown. China's government hasn't released any timetable, nor detailed how it might carry out an adjustment to the exchange-rate regime.
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
RSS