Jul 26, 2009, 6:00 p.m. EST
China may resist pressure to let yuan strengthen
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- As China enters strategic talks with the U.S. this week, the nation will likely resist any pressure to let the yuan strengthen and instead follow its own timetable for currency appreciation, analysts said.
Kevin Lai, economist at Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong, said currencies are "always part of the agenda" when the two nations meet, and the U.S. may continue to push China to let the yuan rise in order to help even out trade flows.
"I don't think [China] would do anything drastic in the near term. They would continue to push their own agenda, which is internationalizing the [yuan], and moving toward [currency-rate] flexibility in a very, very gradual manner," said Lai.
Top officials from the U.S. and China were slated meet later Monday in Washington for their annual closed-door talks on a range of strategic and economic issues.
"You could say that again.China is not going to let the yuan rise because it is going to take care of its own first. Plain and Simple"