Government officials said that China will focus on achieving a basic balance in international payments in 2004 in order to avoid negative repercussions from recent surpluses. Options under consideration include investing in high technology and high value-added exports while reducing uncompetitive exports, encouraging selected imports and tightening capital inflow supervision. The director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said policy plans also include a renminbi exchange rate mechanism that is designed to ensure the currency's basic stability.