BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. senators leading an effort to force trade and currency "concessions" from China said here Thursday that they became more optimistic about China's currency reform. 

    "We are more optimistic than we were when we came here," said U.S. senator Charles E. Schumer, "We have seen that the Chinese government and the Chinese people actually have a convergence with the American people on currency".

    Schumer made the remarks after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai.

    Schumer and another U.S. senator Lindsey Graham are on their visit here to discuss with Chinese top officials on issues of trade, currency and intellectual property rights. They proposed a bill earlier, saying that the United States would impose 27.5 percent tariffs on Chinese imports if China does not appreciate its yuan. The deadline for the voting is March 31.

    "We believe there is real possibility that the Chinese government and Chinese people see it in their interest to let the yuan float," said Schumer, "so we're feeling better."

    China's currency yuan has gained more than 3 percent compared with its value before revaluation on July 21 last year. The two senators showed their appreciation to the yuan revaluation but said that 3 percent is not the final answer.

    The two senators said they are pleased to see a passage about currency reform in China's 11th Five-Year Plan text. In the recently released plan, China described its goal for currency reform, saying that it will improve the system of managed floating foreign currency exchange rates.

    Also in the 11th Five-Year Plan, the two senators noticed that China has changed its economic policy to do more about "encouraging domestic consumption, and the ratio of consumption to savings should be increased on the consumption side".

    It is both to help people in the interior who were not doing aswell as those on the coasts and for the future balance of China's growth, said Schumer.

    "When I came here I thought the Chinese policy is a sort of accumulating wealth, now I see there is an added dimension," he said.

    China's central bank on Thursday vowed to increase the "floating flexibility" of yuan while keeping it basically stable at a reasonable equilibrium.

    The two senators said they believe China's currency issue will be solved over a reasonable period of time but when asked about whether the U.S. Congress would vote their bill, Schumer said that"the jury is still out" and "we still need some concrete signs of movements".

    China revalued its currency by 2.1 percent to 8.11 yuan per dollar in July last year. From 1994 until July 2005, the policy had been to informally peg the value of the yuan to the value of the U.S. dollar.

    In response to journalist's question on whether China would revalue its currency again at a press conference at the close of the annual session of China's top legislature one week ago, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said, "RMB now boasts the room and capacity for floating up or down by itself in line with current mechanism and market changes." Enditem