It is no secret that China would like to convert the renminbi into an international currency and move away from the global dominance of the US dollar. While this is often interpreted as a geopolitical move, a way to insulate China from possible US-led economic sanctions in the future, transforming the renminbi into one of the world’s leading settlement currencies would also greatly benefit the Chinese economy.
After years of speculation and false starts, it seems that the internationalisation of the renminbi is well underway. On March 29, China and Brazil announced plans to trade using their own currencies, rather than the US dollar.
The day before, China National Offshore Oil Corp and France’s TotalEnergies completed their first-ever renminbi-denominated liquefied natural gas trade. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that he wants to use the Chinese currency not just for trading with China, but also as a form of payment in trade with other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. And Saudi Arabia has been in talks with China since last year about accepting payments for some oil exports in renminbi.
