Japan Kan: told China to make wise decision on yuan

BEIJING, April 3 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said on Saturday he told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao he expects China to make a wise decision on the issue of its yuan currency.

"The issue of the yuan, currencies and excess liquidity are related to each other. I told him that I expect China to make a wise decision ," Kan, who is also deputy prime minister, told reporters after meeting Wen in Beijing.

Kan said he made no specific request about the yuan.

"With regard to Japan-China trade, Japan has no major problems concerning the yuan," Kan added.

In Washington on Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration wants to "maximise the chances" that China will quickly lift the value of the yuan and expressed confidence Beijing would decide doing so was in its interest.

His comments, which come as the Treasury Department prepares a hotly anticipated report that could brand China a currency manipulator, suggested the Obama administration was wary of applying too much pressure on China.

Beijing has kept the yuan steady since July 2008, when the global financial crisis significantly worsened, after allowing it to gradually rise for the previous three years.

Saturday's meeting between Kan and Wen was held ahead of regular bilateral talks, the third in a series, aimed at deepening financial dialogue between Asia's two economic giants. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto)