China official says not aware of G8 reserve currency request

BEIJING, July 2 (Reuters) - Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said on Thursday he had not heard about reports that China had requested a debate about global reserve currencies.

Asked about the matter by a reporter during a news briefing, He said, "I have not heard that China has this request".

Sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Beijing has asked to debate proposals for a new global reserve currency at next week's Group of Eight summit in Italy and the issue could be referred to briefly in the summit statement [ID:nL1293071].

He said that Beijing hoped the dollar, the main global reserve currency remained stable but added that China "of course" hoped for reserve currency diversification in the future.

(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch and Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills)