China c.bank says noted Geithner comments on yuan

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's central bank has noted recent comments by Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama's choice to head the U.S. Treasury, on the yuan and has reported them to relevant Chinese government departments, a central bank official said on Friday.

"We have noticed such reports. We have reported them to relevant government departments and are awaiting a response," the official told Reuters by telephone. He declined to elaborate.

President Obama believes China is "manipulating" its currency, Geithner said on Thursday, using a term the Bush administration had deliberately avoided for years to describe Beijing's foreign exchange practices.

Washington will aggressively use all its diplomatic tools to press Beijing to move faster on currency reform, Geithner, the New York Federal Reserve Bank president, said in response to written questions from the Senate Finance Committee, which voted 18-5 on Thursday in favor of his nomination.

(Reporting by Lu Jianxin; Editing by Edmund Klamann)