Xi Jinping has called for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency, in some of his clearest comments on his ambitions for China’s currency as Beijing seeks to play a greater role in the international monetary system.
In commentary published on Saturday in Qiushi, the ruling communist party’s flagship ideology journal, China’s president said the country needed to build a “powerful currency” that could be “widely used in international trade, investment and foreign exchange markets, and attain reserve currency status”.
China’s leadership has long sought to promote the internationalisation of the renminbi. But the comments marked Xi’s clearest definition yet of his goal of a “strong currency”, as well as the broader financial foundations Beijing will need to build to support it.