(Adds comments on financial reform)
BEIJING, June 9 (Reuters) - China, the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, has no intention of abandoning the U.S. dollar, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a news briefing on President Hu Jintao's forthcoming trip to Russia, where he will attend an inaugural summit of the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- in Yekaterinburg on June 16.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and others have said the meeting would discuss the search for alternatives to the dollar as the world's principal reserve currency.
But, asked about the issue, He said: "Nobody is talking about dumping the dollar. I don't think this is realistic."
Chinese central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan caused a stir in late March by proposing that the Special Drawing Right, the International Monetary Fund's unit of account, could eventually replace the dollar.
Asked if the summit would broach the idea of a supernational currency, He said: "At the moment there are some experts and academics who have raised this issue and are discussing it at that level."
But global financial reform, touching on bodies including the International Monetary Fund, would be on the summit agenda.
"The governance structure of the international financial system, including international financial bodies, does not suit the changing situation and needs reform."
"On this matter, the position of developing countries and the BRIC nations is the same. We all call for the strengthening of financial supervision and the reform of international financial bodies, for example the IMF. We must must increase the representation of the right to speak for developing nations in these bodies.
"We hope this BRIC meeting of leaders will further coordinate our position."
Emerging nations, led by Brazil, Russia, India and China, want to increase their representation at the IMF, aiming for an agreement on reforms by January 2011.
Russia has 2.7 percent of the IMF votes, and is unlikely to see its quota increased even under a proposed reform, China holds 3.7 percent, Brazil 1.4 percent and India 1.9 percent.
In comparison, the United States holds 17.1 percent of the votes, the euro zone countries have 32.4 percent and Switzerland holds 1.6 percent. This ensures the dominance of developed nations in IMF decision making.
The BRIC countries also feature prominently on the list of the world's biggest savers with China holding the largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves, Russia the third largest, India the fourth and Brazil the seventh. Most of the reserves are held in dollars and euros.
BRIC's reluctance to contribute money to the IMF unless they have more influence is an important caveat as the Fund is about $150 billion short of a $500 billion funding pledge from the G20. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jan Dahinten)