It's not the first time that US President Donald Trump has targeted China as a currency manipulator, but this time he stamped the world's second economy as the so-called “grand champions” of currency manipulation as the new US Treasury secretary said he would  review into Beijing's foreign exchange practices. 

Trump told Reuters that he has not "held back" in his assessment that China manipulates its renminbi and "see what happens." 

China will continue to advance the reform of the renminbi exchange rate formation regime, while keeping its exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and equilibrium level, Chinese foreign ministry responded on Friday. The ministry's spokesperson Geng Shuang said China hopes relevant parties view the issue objectively, and do more that is conducive to mutual trust and cooperation.‍

“The accusation was based on Donald Trump's own judgement instead of a serious scientific conclusion,” Dr. He Weiwen from the Center for China and Globalization told CGTN regarding Trump’s remarks. He said China's actions did not constitute currency manipulation, even under US law. 

According to the US law, currency manipulation would consist of monetary authorities buying foreign exchange at a level equivalent to 2 percent of the country's GDP over the previous 12 months to depreciate the local currency. However, He noted that over the past 12 months, China's central bank has sold rather than buying the equivalent of 3 percent of its GDP in foreign exchange to prop up the renminbi, emphasizing the lack of clarity in Trump's accusation. 

It seems that the treasury officials are still under their evaluation on China’s financial activities, despite that Trump promised to label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office. 

The new Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday he was not ready to pass judgement on China's currency practices, and the Treasury would follow its normal process of analyzing the currency practices of major US trading partners. 

As usual, an assessment report w‍ould be released on these practices in mid April and October each year.

Regarding Mnuchin’s attitude on branding China as the currency manipulation, Financial Times said it is “the latest sign” that the US administration “is bowing to reality and adopting a more traditional approach on policy…” The newspaper speculated that there would be no announcement on the issue before a regular Treasury report due in April.  

Trump's accusation of other countries as currency manipulators has not stopped. Earlier this month, the president also accused Japan of devaluing their currencies, ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the White House. 

Chinese officials have said time and again that Beijing is not trying to competitively devalue the renminbi to stimulate exports and seek a trade surplus, noting that market-determined renminbi rates and balanced international trade fall within the country's interests.