China's policy of internationalising its currency, the renminbi, has made huge progress in the past year, and an offshore market for renminbi-denominated products at last seems to be taking shape. The most recent move towards internationalising the renminbi came in late November, when Russian and Chinese government officials announced that their two nations would conduct bilateral trade in each other's currencies.

The start of the current round of liberalisation dates back to the end of 2008, when reforms were launched permitting renminbi-denominated trade between specified border regions in China and a number of foreign-currency markets, including Hong Kong, Macau and several South-east Asian countries. In June 2010 the government increased to 20 the number of Chinese provinces that are allowed to conduct renminbi trade-together, these provinces account for almost all of China's external trade-and allowed them to conduct such trade with any external market.