Yen depreciation to have limited effect on China

Depreciation of the yen would have a very limited influence on China's economy, especially in terms of trade and capital flows, according to Peng Wensheng, chief economist and managing director of China International Capital Corp Ltd.

In a newly released report, Peng said if the yuan strengthened by 20 percent against the yen, the real effective exchange rate of the yuan will go up by 1.5 percent, leading to a decline of 2.5 percentage points in China's exports.

As importance of exports to Japan had been declining over the past 10 years, and domestic demand in Japan is expected to rise, China's exports to that country might see a slight fall of between 1 to 4 percent, he said.

"Industries such as food and beverage, animal and plant products, wood products and textiles would be more affected."

Japan's monetary-easing policy would affect China through cross-border capital flows, according to Peng. "But it would be a minor influence, as Japan's easing is less powerful than the US' and the status of the yen lags far behind the dollar, which would not trigger a massive liquidity injection among other countries."

However, the influence on China's holdings of Japanese treasury bonds is difficult to predict, he said. By the end of 2011, China held about $230 billion in Japanese treasury bonds, accounting for 7 percent of the total foreign exchange reserves.