CHINA has told a GATT working group on its re-entry into the world trade body that it intends to unify the dual-track foreign exchange system earlier than promised.
This will mean the abolition of its official exchange rate earlier than the five-year deadline it had set for itself.
A single exchange-rate system is one of the demands being made for Chinese membership by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the global trade forum seeking to lower tariff barriers.
Beijing said in June it would complete its currency reform within five years, but the GATT working party on China, which met for the 15th time in Geneva, asked Beijing for an earlier target date.
Li Zhongzhou, a senior official with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, said after returning from the GATT meeting that ''we will strive to shorten the period as much as possible''.
Mr Li said the working group failed at the last meeting to come up with concrete suggestions on reform of China's foreign exchange and trade regimes.
He urged GATT members to ''put all the cards on the table so that China could judge how far it could accommodate their demands''.