China is not purposely attempting to raise foreign currency reserves, Wu Xiaoling, a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China said in Beijing Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Wu said China's foreign currency reserves reached 853.7 billion U.S. dollars by the end of February.

The large foreign currency reserve have been criticized and created disputes at home and abroad. Some critics believe the reserves are too high.

Wu said that conditions leading to foreign currency reserves differ between countries, referring to reports that China's foreign currency reserve is likely to top Japan's.

She said that fluctuations of foreign currency reserves reflect a country's macro-economy and balance of payments, noting that currently there is no set criteria to judge whether the amount of foreign currency reserves is adequate for a country.

Wu attributed the rise of China's foreign currency reserves to a number of factors including rising foreign investment and exports and the country's current foreign currency policies.

"Neither foreign currency deficits nor excessive foreign currency reserve are advisable, and both suggest an economic structure adjustment," she said.

Wu said that the bank has tabled a proposal to shift the country's concept for foreign currency reserve from "foreign exchange held by the state" to "foreign exchange held by the people".

"The proposal means to relax the policies of foreign currency in order to boost the amount of foreign currency held by individuals." She said.

Wu said that some previous reports and translations on these two concepts did not provide a proper connotation, noting that "foreign exchange held by the state" and "foreign exchange held by the people" are colloquial expressions and that "hold" by the people should not be inferred to mean "hide" or "conceal".

Source: Xinhua