China should not follow in the footsteps of the United States by starting a cycle of interest rate rises, former central bank adviser Li Yang said in an article published on Monday.

"Although people having this idea recognise the close relationship between the U.S. and Chinese economies, they are missing a significant difference in the two countries' economic fundamentals," Li wrote.

The Federal Reserve has raised U.S. interest rates at 17 consecutive meetings, each time sparking a heated debate among economists and researchers about whether China should match it. Over the same two years, China has raised rates just twice.

By keeping a gap between the two nations' rates, China is alleviating pressure for the yuan to appreciate, Li, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the government's top think-tank, wrote in the China Securities Journal.

Moreover, the United States has a deteriorating savings rate and is facing inflationary pressure, whereas in China savings are much larger than investment and price increases have been tame.

"Against this macroeconomic background, it's by no means fair to conclude that China needs to dance to the tune of the U.S. in adjusting interest rates," Li wrote.

China raised its benchmark lending rate by 0.27 percentage points in April, to 5.85 percent, to curb investment growth.

However, Li said China might need to keep capital spending relatively high to sustain rapid economic growth because it was difficult in the short term to boost domestic consumption and exports were facing increasing trade frictions.