China's Push to Internationalize the RMB

About this episode

The episode discusses China's efforts to internationalize the renminbi and its implications for the global financial system.

A currency becomes “internationalized” when it is widely used beyond its home economy for trade, financial transactions, and as a store of value. Achieving that status can lower transaction costs and exchange rate risks, while also enhancing the issuing country’s geopolitical influence. Today, the global financial system remains overwhelmingly dollar-centric, with China’s renminbi playing a comparatively modest role. Yet over the past decade, Beijing has taken steps to expand its global use, expanding offshore renminbi markets, establishing bilateral swap lines, and developing alternative payment infrastructure. To help us unpack where China’s renminbi internationalization efforts stand today, we are joined by Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Zoe’s research centers on international political economy and global financial markets, with a focus on China and East Asia, as well as the Middle East. She is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances Global Ambitions.

People in this episode

Guest: Zongyuan Zoe Liu

Topics covered

• RMB internationalization
• global financial system
• China's economy
• geopolitical influence
• currency markets

Keywords

• renminbi
• internationalization
• financial transactions
• geopolitical influence
• dollar-centric
• offshore markets
• bilateral swap lines

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Council on Foreign Relations

Books & works: Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System?, Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances Global Ambitions

Places: China, East Asia, Middle East

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