China has been industrious this year in laying the foundations for a Sino-centric financial system. Though the realisation of Beijing’s grand design remains uncertain and far off, the thrust of its strategy is clear. First, it aims to create a renminbi zone to balance the US dollar zone that has dominated the world’s financial system since the end of the second world war. This involves encouraging the use of renminbi as a reserve currency, a unit of settlement for trade and a store of value for investors in securities. Progress on all fronts has been marked. Issuance of offshore renminbi bonds, for instance, rose to a record Rmb451bn in the first nine months of the year, from Rmb376bn in all of 2013, Moody’s, the credit rating agency, said yesterday.
今年以來，中國一直在忙著為一個以中國為中心的金融體系奠定基礎。雖然實現北京的宏偉設計仍然既不明朗又很遙遠，但其戰略的主旨是明確的。首先，它力求創建一個人民幣區，以抗衡自第二次世界大戰結束以來主導世界金融體系的美元區。這包括鼓勵使用人民幣作為一種儲備貨幣、一種結算貿易的單位、一種證券投資者的價值儲存手段。迄今各方面都取得了顯著進展。例如，信用評級機構穆迪(Moody’s)昨日表示，今年頭九個月離岸人民幣債券發行總量增至創紀錄的4510億元人民幣，高于2013年全年的3760億元人民幣。