A senior US Federal Reserve board member has praised the US dollar and US Treasury bonds before an audience in Beijing.

"We realize" that recent measures taken by the US Federal Reserve "may give rise to some apprehension among large holders of treasuries and other agency paper such as your government and others in the Asian-Pacific region," said Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas.

"And yet, let me remind you that over the past year" since the Fed has intervened forcefully to bolster the US economy, "the dollar has appreciated 17 percent against the euro and 29 percent against the British pound," he added, according to prepared remarks released by his office.

Speaking at Tsinghua University, Fisher, who is also a member of the US central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, noted that the dollar had only depreciated against one major reserve currency -- the yen -- and by two percent.

"If a Chinese investor had purchased a three-month US Treasury bill in March 2008 and rolled it over every three months until the end of this past month, the return would have been a negative 1.5 percent," he said.

But had that same investor done the same with a euro-area central government bond, according to Fisher, he would have lost 16 percent on his investment.

"It has been quite true that 'gentlemen prefer American bonds,'" he quipped.

US President Barack Obama's administration said Wednesday that China had not manipulated its currency to snare a competitive advantage, but insisted that the yuan remained undervalued. US lawmakers have accused China for years of artificially weakening the yuan to boost exports.

China became the world's top holder of US Treasury bonds last September, and currently holds around 800 billion dollars, according to official US data.

But some Chinese commentators have voiced frustration that Beijing has not found higher-yielding investments for its huge forex reserves and that the huge US stimulus measures could drive down the value of dollar-based assets.