(Updates throughout with additional quotes and background)
BEIJING, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A commentary in an official Chinese newspaper said on Friday the weakness of the U.S. dollar was "holding back" other countries' economic recovery, forcing them to choose between squeezed exports and inflation risks.
The commentary in the Chinese-language People's Daily, the main newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, did not mention China's own yuan currency, but dwelt on the problems it said were created by the dollar.
"The sustained weakness of the dollar is to a considerable extent holding back the economic recovery and policy adjustments of other countries," said the commentary, adding that the weak dollar was a "heavy blow" to their exports.
If other countries "allow their currencies to freely appreciate, then their already severely diminished exports will deteriorate," it said.
"If they maintain exchange rate stability (against the dollar), their central banks will have to buy more dollars on the foreign exchange market, and this will increase liquidity in their own currencies, further inflating asset prices", it said.
The comments in the Chinese government's main newspaper do not necessarily reflect a settled official policy position -- no officials were quoted in the commentary, which appeared on the inside pages of the paper, and other newspapers have also recently criticised U.S. economic policies.
But their appearance in the high-profile outlet appears to amplify recent comments by Chinese officials that Washington, not Beijing, is to blame for global imbalances that have brought calls for China to let the yuan appreciate in value.
China allowed the yuan to rise 21 percent against the dollar between July 2005 and July 2008 before effectively repegging it to help its exporters cope with a slump in global demand.
Beijing now faces mounting international calls to let the yuan, or "renminbi," rise on the grounds that it is undervalued and stoking imbalances with other big economies, but showed no public sign of budging during summits with U.S. President Barack Obama last month and, earlier this week, European leaders.
The demands on the yuan were "unfair" and amounted to an attempt to restrict China's growth, Premier Wen Jiabao told EU leaders this week.
But the commentary also laid out some of the risks and difficult choices facing central bankers -- including, presumably, China's own People's Bank of China.
"To minimise the latent risks from arbitrage of the dollar, all countries must respond with swift policy actions," said the commentary, whose author was identified as Zeng Gang, without giving his background.
But "traditional methods" such as interest rate and exchange rate adjustments were of little use in this effort, Zeng added.
Instead, regulators must strengthen supervision of markets to "prevent excessive dollar arbitrage activity disturbing the order of the international financial market", Zeng wrote. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Simon Rabinovitch and Jonathan Hopfner) ((chris.buckley@thomsonreuters.com; +86-13501014479)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to newsfeedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))