China‘s yuan is at an equilibrium against the dollar and even high in some respects, the country’s main official newspaper said on Friday in remarks that could sow further tension in talks between Beijing and Washington.

The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said differences in labour productivity and operating costs in the world’s two biggest economies show the yuan, or the renminbi, is reasonably valued versus the dollar.

The article came just a day after U.S. Treasury SecretaryTimothy Geithner, in China with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for annual talks with Beijing, repeated calls for China to have a stronger yuan to create room for more flexible policy.

“At the present stage, on the basis of value, and balanced supply and demand, the renminbi exchange rate is basically at a reasonable equilibrium,” said the article, written for the paper by the