* Yuan will be stable
* Media may have misinterpreted Geithner yuan comments
* Will take stock of growth target mid-way through the year
(Adds details, quotes, background)
BEIJING, Feb 28 (Reuters) - China needs to keep its yuan stable for time being in the interest of global trade and the world economy, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in comments broadcast on Saturday.
Chen also said he thought the Chinese economy would be able to achieve moderate growth this year, but played down expectations about it taking a leading role in pulling the world out of an economic crisis.
After appreciating at a steady clip from the time of its revaluation in mid-2005, the yuan has been broadly flat against the dollar for the last seven months, at around 6.84 per dollar.
China is under some pressure from its trading partners to let the yuan strengthen further, with critics saying it is artificially undervalued, handing an unfair trade advantage to its companies.
"I don't think for the next period of time we're going to see a remarkable change in the value of the yuan. I think it will maintain a stable value," Chen told BBC World News.
"I want to stress that the stabilisation of the yuan is conducive to the stability of international trade and the world economy," he said via a interpreter.
Chen said he thought the media may have misinterpreted comments made earlier this year by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that China was manipulating the yuan.
"I don't think that the U.S. government really believes that Chinese government is manipulating the value of its currency."
China has seen its exports drop after recession struck the United States and Europe, dragging growth down from 13 percent in 2007 to 9 percent in 2008.
Beijing, concerned a rebound in unemployment could feed into social unrest, has set an official target of 8 percent growth this year. Many economists say it will be tough to achieve.
MODERATE GROWTH
The government expects to see further crisis fall-out in the first half of 2009 due to weak overseas demand. It will take stock of its growth target mid-way through the year, Chen said.
"If we find our target is a bit high, we will make some adjustments," he said. "All in all, the Chinese economy will remain stable and grow moderately."
China's stimulus spending has started to nudge the economy in the right direction but the financial crisis could still take a turn for the worse, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told an online forum on Saturday.
Chen, on a trade mission to Europe in which Chinese businesses have signed tens of billions of dollars in contracts, sought to play down any expectations that it could play a significant role in kick-starting the global economy.
China's biggest contribution would be to run its own affairs well while maintaining an open stance to the world economy.
"Fundamentally, the way out of the international economic crisis depends on the United States and the EU," he said.
He said Beijing would expect any further opening by it to be reciprocated by other countries, particularly when it came to the Doha round of talks at the World Trade Organisation.
"We are requested by some partners that we should further open our investments or service sectors, but by doing so, we in China also have the expectation of a trade-off," he said.
Chen acknowledged there might be some capital flowing out of China, driven by the liquidity crisis beyond its borders.
"To some extent, foreign exchange reserves are flowing out of China," he said without elaborating. (Reporting by Jason Subler and Simon Rabinovitch; editing by Elizabeth Piper)