China grapples with contradictions over currency

Beijing

CHINA is struggling to reconcile its push for economic reforms and a freely traded currency with curbing massive outflows of capital sparked by worries over its slowing economy - and a lack of communication is fuelling fear.

The thorny problem represents the so-called "impossible trinity", as China's ruling Communist Party seeks to control the exchange rate and monetary policy, while at the same time moving to freer capital flows, analysts said.