BEIJING — China repeated promises of exchange rate flexibility Wednesday but offered no new measures to affect Wednesday’s vote by the U.S. House of Representatives on currency legislation.
The statement in a central bank report on a quarterly economic meeting reflected currency policy and gave no details of possible changes. It made no mention of demands by some American lawmakers for China to ease currency controls or face possible trade penalties.
The House measure to prod China to raise the value of the yuan passed 348-79, with 99 Republicans voting with Democrats.
The Senate will take up its version of the bill after the November election, Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Tuesday. The Obama administration hasn’t taken a position on the measure even as officials became more vocal in demanding that China curb its purchase of U.S. dollars.
Supporters say the bill would protect U.S. jobs against unfair trade competition at a time of high unemployment. American lawmakers face rising pressure to create jobs ahead of November elections.
The Chinese government promised a more flexible exchange rate in June when it broke a link between its yuan and the dollar. But the yuan has risen by only about 2 percent since then, fueling demands by American lawmakers for action.
China will continue reforms to “enhance exchange rate flexibility against the backdrop of a recovering global economy,” said the report by the People’s Bank of China.
The central bank will “further improve the yuan’s exchange rate regime based on market supply and demand with reference to a basket of currencies,” the report said. It gave no details of possible changes.
Half the yuan’s increase against the dollar since June has come this month amid mounting U.S. pressure and threats of possible sanctions.
Critics say the yuan is kept undervalued, giving China’s exporters an unfair price advantage and swelling its trade surplus. U.S. manufacturers blame the level of the yuan for the loss of millions of jobs.
Private sector analysts say a rise in the yuan is unlikely to generate U.S. jobs because American factories no longer make the goods produced by China.
Information for this article was contributed by Mark Drajem of Bloomberg News.
Business, Pages 27 on 09/30/2010