Proposed US legislation aimed at punishing China unless it lets the yuan rise would not be in line with World Trade Organisation rules, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday.

US Senator Charles Schumer said on Wednesday he and other colleagues would push for a vote in the next two weeks on legislation that would allow the US Commerce Department to use anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws against China or any other country with a fundamentally misaligned exchange rate.

Commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian told a monthly news conference: "It's against facts and lacks support from WTO rules."

Yao restated China's long-standing view that growth patterns in developed nations, particularly excessive consumption, were the root cause of global economic imbalances, not the yuan.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday the yuan was an impediment to global rebalancing, indicating that US patience with China's currency policy was wearing thin. – Reuters