China’s currency has long been hitched to someone else’s wagon – the US dollar. But as central banks across the developed world plot diverging courses, it is fast becoming apparent that the renminbi is prone to travel sickness.

Some analysts warn that the slide in the yen and the euro is raising pressure on Beijing to boost competitiveness by weakening the renminbi, something that would send shockwaves across the global economy.

China’s currency is anchored to the US dollar, against which it can rise or fall a maximum of 2 per cent a day from a fixed rate set by the People’s Bank of China. This mechanism gives the central bank effective control of the exchange rate against the dollar, but not against the currencies of its other main trading partners.