Beijing Dreams Its Yuan Will Supplant the Dollar

It will be a long road for the yuan, and it may never get to Beijing’s desired destination.A staff member counts money at a branch of the Bank of China in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on Aug. 10, 2011. VCG via Getty Images1/29/2026|Updated: 1/29/2026CommentaryAs the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) maneuvers to raise the yuan’s foreign exchange value, it becomes abundantly clear that Beijing wants a wider international role for China’s currency.Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is “Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live.”Author’s Selected Articles