Chinese market turmoil and the renminbi’s fall to a four-year low against the US dollar risks the prospect of “perverse” currency wars, Mexico has warned.

墨西哥警告称，中国股市动荡以及人民币兑美元汇率降至四年新低，可能会引发“悖理”的货币战争。

Latin America’s second-biggest economy, which saw its currency tumble to a historic low of 17.72 pesos to the dollar on Thursday — on top of a slide of more than 14 per cent in 2015 — would be in the front line since the peso is the most widely traded emerging market currency and is often used by traders as a proxy.

这个拉美第二大经济体会是头一批受到影响的，原因是墨西哥比索是交易量最大的新兴市场货币之一，常被交易员用作新兴市场货币的代表。周四，墨西哥比索暴跌至历史低点，即1美元兑17.72比索。2015年，比索相对美元下跌了14%以上。

“There is real concern that, in the face of the deceleration of the Chinese economy, the public policy response will be to start a round of competitive devaluations,” said Luis Videgaray, finance minister.

墨西哥财长路易斯比德加赖(Luis Videgaray)表示：“一个切实的担忧是，面对中国经济减速，各国采取的公共政策回应会是开启一轮竞争性货币贬值。”

He called that prospect “frankly perverse” because copycat devaluations would leave everyone in the same position and would not really alter anything. Mexico’s peso floats freely, but the central bank has been auctioning dollars in recent months to shore up the currency.

他表示这一前景“其实是悖理的”，因为你贬我也贬只会让大家处于同一位置，不会真正改变什么。墨西哥比索是自由浮动的，但墨西哥央行近几个月来一直在拍卖美元以支撑比索。

Mexico had already been bracing itself for a volatile year before Chinese market turmoil got 2016 off to a painful start. Attempts by Chinese authorities to support share prices and the renminbi sparked global concern about their ability to manage a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

在中国股市动荡让2016年迈出痛苦的第一步前，墨西哥已然在准备应对动荡的一年。中国当局为支撑股市和人民币而作出的种种努力，令全球市场担忧他们是否有能力应对世界第二大经济体的经济放缓。

Some observers attribute the renminbi’s slide to a four-year low against the dollar on Thursday as an attempt by Beijing to pursue competitive devaluations on behalf of its struggling exporters. However, the People’s Bank of China is considered unlikely to be intentionally stoking a currency war — last month alone, it sold an estimated $113bn in reserves to stabilise its depreciating currency.

部分观察人士认为，人民币兑美元汇率在周四下滑至四年低点，是中国政府为帮助该国陷入困境的出口商而试图推行竞争性贬值。但人们认为，中国央行不太可能是在蓄意煽动汇率战争——为使不断贬值的人民币企稳，中国央行仅在去年12月一个月就售出了大约1130亿美元外汇储备。