China's not going to dump the dollar - minister
The world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves calms anxieties provoked by talk of an alternative.
BEIJING (Reuters) -- China, the world's largest holder of official foreign exchange reserves, has no intention of abandoning the dollar, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said Tuesday.
He was speaking at a news briefing on President Hu Jintao's forthcoming trip to Russia, where he will attend an inaugural summit of the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 16.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and others have said the meeting would discuss the search for alternatives to the dollar as the world's principal reserve currency.
But, asked about the issue, He said: "Nobody is talking about dumping the dollar. I don't think this is realistic."
Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan caused a stir in late March by proposing that the Special Drawing Right, the International Monetary Fund's unit of account, could eventually replace the dollar.
Asked if the summit would broach the idea of a supernational currency, He said: "At the moment there are some experts and academics who have raised this issue and are discussing it at that level." 
