2010-06-24 19:40

BEIJING - A Chinese government spokesman on Thursday said accusations made in the United States Congress that the yuan was undervalued were groundless and warned Washington against politicizing the currency issue.

"We urge the United States to take a positive and constructive attitude rather than politicize the currency issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular briefing.

"Imposing pressure and accusations are unjustified and the pursuit of its own interests at the expense of others," Qin said.

Qin's comments came after US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke Wednesday said the Chinese currency remained undervalued when he was questioned by senators, who accused China of keeping the yuan low for a trade advantage.

Locke was the first US cabinet member to directly say the yuan was undervalued since China's central bank on Saturday promised to make the exchange rate more flexible.

Qin attributed the China-US trade imbalance to international industry specialization and US high-tech export controls on China.

"The appreciation of the yuan will neither root out the US trade deficit to China nor solve the low US savings rate or unemployment," Qin said.

Dismissing China's intentions to seek trade surplus with the United States, Qin said China had for years taken positive measures to expand imports from the United States and generated significant results.