In remarks today, China's central bank governor acknowledged the challenges posed by China's trade surplus, but Chinese officials insist currency reforms will take place over time.
In a little-noticed comment during the weekend's meetings, Yi Gang, a deputy governor of China's central bank and head of the country's foreign-exchange reserves, said that China aimed to bring its current-account surplus below 4% of GDP within 3-5 years.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission, China's bank regulator known as CBRC, couldn't be reached to comment.
The growth rate in China's bank lending has halved over the past year or so, and is now broadly in line with GDP growth.
China's bank regulators have been working to curb bank off-balance-sheet lending.
Statistics from China's central bank show China had around 207 million credit cards in issue at the end of June, up 10% from the end of last year and more than quadruple the level at the end of 2006.
"We should avoid any excuse that might lead to the revitalization of trade protectionism, " said Su Ning of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.
What's more, China's central bank seems to be in professional hands, as skilled as any in heading off debacles.
But shortly afterwards, China's central bank established a domestic competitor, China UnionPay, and gave it a de facto monopoly over the handling of local-currency payments between merchants and banks.
When China's central bank cut interest rates seven times between 1996 and 1999, China Life found itself paying out more to policy holders than it could earn through bank deposits.
On one side of the discussion is the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.
ECONOMIST: The Chinese case for a stronger, more flexible currency
The People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the country's central bank will add to its holdings of euro-denominated assets.
Bank of China, the country's largest foreign-exchange bank, said that its net profit climbed 12% on-year in 2012, higher than analyst expectations. 2012 net profit at Agricultural Bank of China, China's largest rural lender by assets, came out a touch lower than expectations.
Since then, China's central bank has made sure that the yuan has remained virtually stable against the dollar.
China's central bank governor has made it clear that Beijing is not offering any concessions on its exchange rates anyway.
China's central bank is sending mixed messages on where monetary policy is heading, and that is pushing investors to the sidelines.
Property companies were among the gainers in Hong Kong, after China's central bank said it planned measures to help first-time home buyers.
China's central bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point earlier this month, its first cut since December 2008.
Mr Zhang added that the moves by China's central bank to ease its policies had also contributed to the pick-up in prices.
BBC: China home price rise indicates small rebound in demand
After these remarks, the head of China's central bank called for the creation of a new international currency reserve to replace the dollar.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Will Brazil and China abandon the dollar?
It says it was warned by China's central bank that Alipay would not be allowed to operate if it was, in effect, partly foreign-owned.
That may have prompted China's central bank to let the yuan rise to a rate of 6.4 redbacks to one green (see chart 2).
ECONOMIST: The yuan is flowing beyond China��s borders��and back again
Its director is Wei Benhua, a veteran of China's central bank.
The governor of China's central bank called for a new world reserve currency to replace the dollar , which he suggested could be issued by the IMF.
Assuming that Western banks stagnate, that would mean China's biggest bank would take about two years to reach the size of, say, JPMorgan Chase, measured by risk-adjusted assets.
Meanwhile, China's central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said the yuan - which is currently tied to a narrow band against the dollar - would see its flexibility increased.
Large capital inflows have forced China's central bank to buy massive quantities of dollar reserves, which have spilled over into excessive growth in the money supply and credit.
ECONOMIST: It is time for China to unshackle the price of money
China's central bank said in January that it was preparing for a trial program, called QDII2, that would allow domestic retail investors to invest overseas directly instead of through financial institutions.
The probe last month was led by China's central bank and top securities regulator and focused on a kind of transaction that could magnify trading risks for Chinese banks and brokerage firms.
The bond-market investigation, led by China's central bank and top securities regulator, focuses on a kind of transaction that could magnify trading risks for Chinese banks and brokerage firms, the people said.
应用推荐