BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Germany Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said on Sunday after talks with Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming that he expected China to relax its fixed exchange rate one day even though it would take some time.
"It's my view that they could switch to floating exchange rates one day," Bruederle told reporters, referring to the yuan. "But that can't be done right now."
He said that China wanted to open its financial markets step by step. Bruederle said China wanted to diversify its foreign exchange reserves and that could give the euro more weight.
Many of China's trading partners have complained about China's weak yuan and its fixed exchange rate. China has shrugged off international pressure to appreciate its currency.
China has kept the yuan almost flat against teh dollar since mid-2008 and some countries argue the currency needs to appreciate to ease imbalances in global trade. (Reporting by Gernot Heller; writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Karen Foster)