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China hopes for diversification of the international currency system in the future, and it would be "normal" for the issue to be raised for discussion at next week's Group of Eight summit, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said on Thursday.
Speaking at a news briefing ahead of President Hu Jintao attending a G8 summit in Italy next week, He said he was not aware of reports that China had requested a debate about global reserve currencies.
G8 sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Beijing had asked for a debate on proposals for a new global reserve currency at the G8 summit and the issue could be referred to briefly in the summit statement.
The news pushed down the dollar [ $$EURUSD 
+ (+0.00%) ], which is particularly sensitive to comments from China because bankers estimate the country holds perhaps 70 percent of its $1.95 trillion in official currency reserves in the U.S. currency.
"I have not heard that China has this request," He said in response to a reporter's question about the matter.
But he also flagged that Beijing expected the issue to be discussed at the G8 meeting.
"This financial crisis has fully exposed some shortcomings in the international currency system," He said. "Of course we hope that in the future the international currency system can diversify.
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