China President Hu Jintao questions dollar policy (by V. Phani Kumar)

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao called the U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a "product of the past" and highlighted efforts to transform the yuan into a global currency, while offering a veiled criticism of the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program, according to The Wall Street Journal. Answering written questions from the Journal and the Washington Post ahead of his official visit to the U.S., Hu said U.S. monetary policy "has a major impact on global liquidity and capital flows and therefore, the liquidity of the U.S. dollar should be kept at a reasonable and stable level." He called for an international financial system that is more "fair, just, inclusive and well-managed," Hu said, according to the Journal. He called attention to China's efforts to expand the role of the yuan in cross-border trade, although he admitted that making it a full-fledged global currency "will be a fairly long process," the report added.