The time is right to adjust China's exchange rate, and doing so soon would not only help the economy but improve the country's global standing, a top Chinese researcher said in remarks published on Friday. The commentary by He Fan, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was carried in the state-run China Securities Journal and marked one of the strongest endorsements yet in the official media of an adjustment to Beijing's long-standing fixed currency policy.
"Conditions are ripe for adjusting the exchange rate," said He, who is assistant director of the academy's institute for international economics and politics.
"When conditions are mature, we should be pro-active in adjusting the exchange rate rather than be forced to adjust when we don't want to," He said.
China's yuan, also called the renminbi, is pegged at about 8.28 to the dollar, but speculation that Beijing could allow the currency to rise has mounted in recent months.
The United States and other countries have pressed China to make the yuan freely convertible, but Beijing has said it will do so only gradually and only after tackling other domestic problems like a sickly banking system and unemployment.