Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Friday that China's exchange rate policy remained unchanged, but the country has prepared "several precautionary plans" for coping with different circumstances amid the global financial crisis.

Zhou Xiaochuan (right), governor of the People's Banck of China, or the central bank, answers questions during a press conference on the sidelines of the 2nd session of the 11th NPC in Beijing, March 6, 2009. [Xinhua]

"(Those plans deal with) how we will react in accordance with the deepening of the crisis or new circumstances to surface," he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the 11th National People's Congress.

Zhou called for clarification from "countries from where the crisis originated" about how the crisis would evolve so China can make it clear how it will respond in terms of the yuan’s exchange rate policy. But "obviously, there are great certainties in those countries", he said. China, therefore, has had to prepare multiple plans, he added.

(China Daily March 6, 2009)