Voice from Moscow

RIA Novosti: China rejects foreign calls for yuan revaluation 14/03

China Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Sunday rejected foreign pressure over its foreign exchange policy and said the national currency will be kept basically stable.

The United States and China's other trading partners have been exerting pressure on Beijing to ease foreign exchange controls that keep the yuan undervalued against major world currencies and create what they say unfair advantages for Chinese exporters.

Wen said, however, that keeping the yuan exchange rate basically stable had played an important role in facilitating the recovery of the global economy from the worst financial crisis in decades.

Wen said the Chinese national currency had appreciated 21% against the U.S. dollar since 2005 when China started its currency reform to unpeg the yuan against the greenback.

Itar-Tass: Moscow-Beijing relations steady, fruitful – diplomat 12/03

Relations between Moscow and Beijing are steady and fruitful, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said on Friday, upon the end of consultations with Chinese colleagues in Beijing.

"Russia and China have steady and fruitful political relations, including those between the two foreign ministries," he said. "Our dialog is steady. It is developing between experts and ministers. The Russian foreign minister plans to visit China this year."

The Beijing consultations touched upon Russia-China interaction at the BRIC Group (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the G-20 and further promotion of political, economic and humanitarian contacts between member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), he said.

Moscow and Beijing view the upcoming 65th anniversary of the victory in the World War II as a common holiday, Denisov said.