China is letting its currency appreciate ,Jon Huntsman said

China is letting its currency appreciate, as in the country "immediate concern"not only because of U.S. pressure and Europe. U.S. Ambassador in China, Jon Huntsman said.

"Inflation is on the horizon, they are trying to make the transition from export to the largest ever assembled in world history to a model based on the consumer, and to do that, you have to have a currency properly valued," Huntsman said in an interview on "Charlie Rose" show that aired yesterday on U.S. public television.

President Barack Obama is pressing his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to allow rapid appreciation of the currency to help reduce trade imbalances that threaten to unleash protectionism and threaten global economic recovery.

Huntsman called the finding "very slow. "

China, which has kept the yuan to rise about 2.5 percent from a two-year dollar parity was removed in June, has argued that letting its currency appreciate more quickly can cause social and economic disruption.

Huntsman also said he expects some "ideological rigidity"that leads to leadership changes in China in 2012, after which it is likely that a period of reform.

"If I were looking to the future, I would say that the years 2013 to 2015, 2016 will be very important from the standpoint of reform. "