Former IMF Chief Economist: Xi Jinping Plans to Accelerate Internationalization of Renminbi

The Chinese leader is expected to use the country’s currency to attempt to counter U.S. power.A businessman walks past a RMB (renminbi) poster outside the Bank of China in Hong Kong on Sept. 5, 2011. Laurent Fievet/AFP/Getty Images2/8/2026|Updated: 2/8/2026At the start of the new year, Chinese state media published an article by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping urging China to establish a “strong currency” and achieve international reserve currency status for the renminbi.A former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist stated that Xi’s speech foreshadows a CCP push for the internationalization the renminbi.Author’s Selected Articles