KEY POINTS:
The governor of China's central bank is set to resist pressure from the US for a revaluation of the country's currency.
In a New Year's Day message, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said he would continue to pursue a "stable currency policy", rather than taking action that might jeopardise the country's economic growth.
Mr Zhou has been facing increasingly vehement calls from the US for a revaluation of the yuan, which Americans claim has been deliberately undervalued in order to promote Chinese exports to the West.
The Chinese government removed the fixed peg between its currency and the dollar last year, but has not allowed the yuan to trade outside a narrow range.
Last month, Mr Zhou met the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, who warned that China could face trade sanctions unless it relaxed currency controls.
Yesterday, though, Mr Zhou said that his priority be "stable and accelerated economic development".
The People's Bank of China has already relaxed controls on Chinese citizens buying overseas assets, but it has continued to prevent the yuan fluctuating in value by more than 0.3 per cent a day against an international basket of currencies.
Economists expect the yuan to appreciate in value against the dollar by no more than 5 per cent during the first half of the year, having risen 3.4 per cent during the period since the peg was abolished.
China's trade surplus with the US hit a record US$24.4bn in October, and is expected to keep growing.
The country last year broke through the US$1 trillion mark for its reserves of foreign currency.
The IMF expects reserves to top US$2 trillion in 2010.
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