The Daily Populous Monday February 2nd, 2026 morning edition
Authored by amp.scmp.com and submitted by Stunning_Working8803

China needs to build a “strong currency” that can become widely used in international trade, investment and foreign exchange markets, and reach the status of a global reserve.

The mission for the yuan was from excerpts of a speech by President Xi Jinping and published online on Saturday by Qiushi, the ruling Communist Party’s leading theoretical journal.

Xi made the speech in 2024 to provincial and ministerial officials about building the country into a global financial powerhouse.

Parts of Xi’s speeches are often reproduced to highlight national goals and this call comes as uncertainty about global financial markets and questions about the value of the US dollar are on the rise.

Over the past year, the yuan has generally strengthened against the dollar, although international investment banks argue that the Chinese currency remains below its long-term fair value.

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The excerpts published on the weekend outlined what Xi described as the core attributes of a financial powerhouse: a strong economic foundation, world-leading economic and technological strength, and a widely used and credible currency.

Kosmonaut_198vi on February 1st, 2026 at 19:01 UTC »

There’s no way you will have the global reserve currency, if your central bank and financial system is not somehow/somewhat independent from centralized political control.

We are second guessing the USD in that role now, exactly because of how the current administration in the US is behaving regarding the issue.

2dTom on February 1st, 2026 at 17:32 UTC »

In order to achieve this, China will have to significantly loosen its capital controls, and remove the managed float of the Yuan that keeps it banded to the dollar.

The chances of Xi allowing capital flight or allowing the Yuan to appreciate against the dollar are approximately 0%.

Xi is happy to talk a big game here, but I don't think that anything will end up really coming from this.

Chogo82 on February 1st, 2026 at 17:25 UTC »

Making the yuan strong but pegging it to the dollar so China can still sell its goods at a cheap cost to the largest consumer base in the world is a paradox.