China's foreign exchange regulator had pledged to safeguard the country's swelling foreign currency reserves by curbing risk and finding ways to boost investment returns, the Financial News said Thursday.

China would set up a "strict risk-constraint mechanism and strive to achieve better returns on the basis of ensuring the safety and liquidity" of the world's second-largest foreign exchange reserves after Japan, the newspaper quoted Guo Shuqing, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, as saying.

Guo urged SAFE officials to invest China's foreign exchange reserves, which soared more than US$200 billion last year to a record US$610 billion, in a "standardized and professional way."

The reserves have been driven by strong foreign investment, a trade surplus and speculative money betting on a possible revaluation of the yuan. Part of the money is invested in U.S. Treasuries and other foreign assets.

China has come under pressure from rich nations, the United States in particular, to free up the yuan, which has been pegged near 8.28 to the U.S. dollar since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis.

Foreign critics have complained the yuan is undervalued, making Chinese exports artificially cheap on world markets and helping China to pile up the foreign currency.

China, while vowing to keep the yuan basically stable, has pledged to reform the currency regime to make it more flexible over time, but top officials have also cited necessary preconditions such as a stable economy and a healthier financial system.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies