BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao rebuffed U.S. calls to re-value China’s currency, telling President Barack Obama that any tinkering with the yuan will be done by Beijing in accord with domestic interests.

Hu defended China’s policy of pegging the yuan to the dollar at a Monday meeting with Obama in Washington and said changes to the exchange rate would not come from U.S. pressure.

“Detailed measures for reform should be considered in the context of the world’s economic situation, its development and changes as well as China’s economic conditions. It won’t be advanced by any foreign pressure,” Hu said in remarks released by China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. He said reform would come based on China’s “own economic and social development needs.”

Get full story here.

March 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. and China are on a “collision course” over the value of the Chinese currency and investors are underestimating the disruptions for global financial markets, according to Nouriel Roubini.

“The risk of a collision course on China’s currency peg and a wider trade rift between the world’s largest debtor and creditor nations has risen significantly in recent months,” Roubini, a professor at New York University, wrote in a note to clients. “Markets do not seem to be pricing in the potential consequences of the U.S. labeling China a currency manipulator, which could be significant even if both sides avoid taking immediate bilateral actions.”

Read the rest of this entry »

By SEWELL CHAN

WASHINGTON — Despite mounting pressure in Congress for the Obama administration to declare China a currency manipulator, the Chinese government is giving no indication that it will change its exchange rate policy.

After meeting with officials at the Treasury and Commerce Departments on Wednesday, China’s deputy commerce minister, Zhong Shan, told reporters, “The Chinese government will not succumb to foreign pressures to adjust our exchange rate.”

Mr. Zhong reiterated a statement this month by the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, who said he did not believe the currency, the renminbi, was undervalued.

“It is wrong for the United States to jump to the conclusion that China is manipulating currency from the sheer fact that China is enjoying a trade surplus,” Mr. Zhong told reporters in a meeting at the Chinese Embassy. “Besides, it’s wrong for the United States to press for the appreciation of the renminbi and threaten to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese experts. This is unacceptable to China.”

Get full story here.