Official: RMB appreciation "not good recipe"

A senior Chinese trade official has rejected US calls for the Renminbi to appreciate further, saying it's not a good way to fix the current trade imbalance between the two countries. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan is in Washington for discussions with his US counterparts on trade issues.

Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan is in Washington for discussions with his US counterparts on trade issues.

Pressure on China to realign its currency is growing in the US.

A group of US senators last week proposed legislation to press China to appreciate its currency, saying the yuan is undervalued.

In a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said it is not a good recipe for solving the US-China trade deficit.

He says the yuan appreciated by more than one fifth against the dollar between 2005 and 2008, but China's trade surplus still increased by 20.8 percent on an annual basis.

Zhong says a dip in the dollar's value will undoubtedly bring great repercussions to the global financial system and the world economy, and it is in nobody's interest to see big swings in exchange rates.