BEIJING - People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, on Wednesday lashed out at a US Senate bill pressing for appreciation of the Chinese yuan, saying it was an act of "buck-passing" and "self-deception."

The US Senate voted Monday to allow a debate on a bill that calls for retaliatory tariffs on goods imported from countries whose currencies they deem "undervalued," sparking firm opposition from the Chinese government.

The vote came as the US citizens were increasingly dissatisfied with a feeble economic recovery and a jobless rate as high as 9 percent while the US Congress was mired in bitter partisanship and failed to offer any effective solutions to the country's economic problems, said People's Daily in an article published Wednesday.

"Facing the discontent of the US people, some US lawmakers are using the Chinese currency to pass the buck to cover their own political impotency," said the article.

"However, such a self-deceiving act can not fool others. Even those Americans who advocate Renminbi appreciation have to acknowledge that a rise in the yuan's value is not a panacea to the US economic problems," said the article.

It urges the US to "pay more attention to taking care of its own business to strengthen its competitive power fundamentally."

China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday the US Senate's move "seriously violates rules of the World Trade Organization and obstructs China-US trade ties."

The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said Tuesday the bill may seriously affect China's currency reform and could result in a trade war between the two economies.

China should ignore the US pressure to revalue its currency and care about how to reduce the accumulation of its massive foreign exchange reserves, the English newspaper China Daily quoted Hua Min, the director of Fudan University's Institute of World Economy, on Wednesday.

Economists are concerned that such a legislation might lead to a currency war and could sink the global economy, said the newspaper.