A bank clerk exchanges Chinese yuan for an equivalent amount of U.S. dollars in a bank in Liaocheng, east China's Shandong province in this February 28, 2006 photo. [newsphoto]

Wu Xiaoling, a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said recently that Beijing was doing its best and that it would trust market forces to gradually let the currency move more freely.

"There will be no wide fluctuation of foreign exchange rates, because it may harm the steady development of Chinese economy," Wu said. "The yuan's flexibility is increasing gradually and we will allow supply and demand to play its role in forming the exchange rate."

And, China has noticed the negative impacts brought by its huge foreign exchange reserves, at more than US$870 billion, and is taking steps to relieve the pressure.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has started to free up the country's foreign exchange regime with a shift from stockpiling foreign exchange reserves in State coffers to letting businesses and individuals hold more foreign currency. Some qualified commercial banks are also encouraged to invest in overseas market.

The huge foreign exchange reserves, fuelled by China's trade surplus and surging direct foreign investment, indeed influenced China's economic growth, and limited the independence of the country's currency policy, analysts have acknowledged.

Some forecast that 15 or 20 years later, when China enters middle stage of aging society, with an increased production cost and lower saving rate, China¡¯s trade surplus may then be reduced, and a balance of payments achieved.

Chinese President Hu Jintao deflected U.S. pressures to allow the yuan to appreciate during last week's visit to Washington, while saying China would gradually establish a more flexible exchange rate system.

Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for the HSBC, said China had already made a significant move on April 14 when it announced plans to allow Chinese banks and institutions to invest private capital overseas for the first time.

"This measure will lead to fundamental changes by opening an official channel for foreign exchange outflows and allowing Chinese retail investors and corporate sectors to invest in overseas markets," Qu said. "We believe there is huge pent up demand for Chinese savers to diversify their 31 trillion yuan (US$3.87 trillion) in accumulated savings into foreign assets."

The move is designed to free the central bank from having to purchase overseas government securities -- mostly US bonds -- to offset growing foreign reserves that have piled up with China's huge investment inflows and growing trade surpluses, he said.