China rejects U.S. and IMF pressure to float the yuan

An emboldened Beijing is vehemently resisting international pressure to raise the value of its yuan currency, which has been pegged to the U.S. dollar since mid-2008 in order to boost Chinese exports.

In the latest intensification of the dispute, the U.S. Senate drafted legislation last week to punish China if it refuses to revalue the currency. The International Monetary Fund (imf) weighed in on the argument on Wednesday. “The renminbi (yuan) is very much undervalued and it’s in the logic of re-balancing (of the world economy) that the renminbi will appreciate,” imf managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

On Thursday, China rejected the criticisms and defended its exchange rate policies, saying the value of the yuan was not the major cause of Washington’s trade deficit with Beijing. Lashing out at Washington’s legislation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, “It is unfair and harmful to continuously depreciate a country’s own currency and ask other countries to revalue their currencies in the meantime.”

Qin said the Senate’s legislation was an example of harmful protectionism, which would hamper recovery in the world economy.

The currency issue has added to friction between Washington and Beijing over a spate of other issues including Tibet, Internet freedoms, and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Relations between the two powers are now at the lowest they have been for several years, and it doesn’t appear Beijing’s confidence will dwindle anytime soon.

The Bible prophesies of the rise of China in the end time. Combined with other Asian nations, it is destined to seek world domination. The Bible reveals, as our booklet Russia and China in Prophecy explains, that at that time it will in fact be Europe that will clash with this Asian power in a battle for world domination.