More pressure

The US will pile on more pressure for yuan gains even as "the topic won't dominate the talks," said Liu Dongliang, a Shenzhen-based foreign-exchange analyst at China Merchants Bank Co. "China will determine the appreciation pace based on inflationary pressure. There is no better way to tackle inflation than currency appreciation."

China is seeking a stronger yuan to trim inflation that slowed to 7.7 percent in May from an almost 12-year high of 8.5 percent in April.

For the first five months, the trade surplus, which rose to a record in 2007, narrowed 9 percent from a year earlier.

(Shanghai Daily June 19, 2008)