China's yuan has bright future as global currency

Trichet, however, said the yuan had to be completely convertible so savers and investors in the world could have full confidence in it as a free-floating global currency.

As for the international monetary system, he said the current system was far from perfect, but it remained "reasonably resilient."

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Thanks to smooth global cooperation among major economies' central banks, there was no dramatic crisis on the exchange market during the worst financial crisis of advanced economies since World War II, Trichet said.

Asked about the recent economic situation in Europe, he said the euro zone was recovering gradually.

"We're not at the epicenter of the global crisis now," the euro defender said, adding there was still a lot of work to be done.

Responding to the concern about the ECB's recent decision to launch a negative interest rate policy, Trichet said it meant the central bank was taking serious measures to tackle low inflation in the area.

He also defended himself over his policy when he was in office from 2003 to 2011, during which he was criticized for emphasizing price stability over growth and job creation.

"Price stability, without inflation and without deflation, is not opposed to growth and job creation, but on the contrary, it is a precondition of growth and job creation," he said.

Trichet said 2 percent was the definition of price stability, which was set at the very beginning of the euro.

Over the past 15 years, "the average yearly inflation rate was exactly 2 percent of the euro," he said.