Currency manipulation claims 'total rubbish'

China does not manipulate the exchange rate of the yuan and such an accusation is totally unfounded, said an economist and former central bank monetary policy adviser ahead of the US Treasury's decision this week on whether to designate China as a "currency manipulator".

"If China manipulates it, the country should have tried to have its currency depreciated, which is not the fact," said Yu Yongding, a senior economist of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

What China has done, instead, has actually helped prevent the yuan's exchange rate from falling, Yu told a financial forum organized by the institute on Monday. China has taken measures to prevent irregular capital outflows in recent years to reduce their impact on economic stability, which also helped to keep the yuan from weakening.