BEIJING - China's foreign exchange regulator reiterated Wednesday that an appreciation of China's currency renminbi, or yuan, will not directly result in a loss of the country's foreign exchange reserves.

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Value changes in foreign exchange reserve assets only happen when they are converted to yuan, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement on its website.

"Currently China does not need to repatriate forex reserves massively," it said.

Currency fluctuations only reflect a change to the book value, it said, adding it is not an actual loss and does not affect real purchasing power of the forex reserves.

Government data shows China's forex reserves totaled nearly $3.2 trillion by the end of June.

The statement echoed the stance the SAFE voiced in May, which was made after a government researcher said in an essay that China probably suffered an accumulated loss of around $271 billion on foreign exchange reserves since 2003 because of yuan's appreciation.