China to Build Global Clearing Network for Mobile Payments, Using Digital Yuan: State Media

China aims to build an international clearing and settlement network for mobile payments using the digital yuan, the People’s Daily wrote in an op-ed Monday.

• The network will be a “breakthrough point” in the cross-border use of the digital currency, the op-ed said. China also wants to use the digital yuan to improve the monitoring and early warning capabilities regarding cross-border flows of the yuan, according to the article.
• The internationalization of the renminbi is a necessity for China’s economic development, but also an inevitability given its economic progress, the op-ed said, citing Song Ke, deputy director of the Institute of International Monetary Studies at the Renmin University of China.
• Official Chinese sources have been reluctant to talk about the central bank digital currency as a vehicle for RMB internationalization, even though state planning documents like the Five Year Plan affirm that internationalizing the national currency is one of the government’s goals.
• China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been in trials since spring of 2020, and has so far been used in at least $5 billion worth of transactions, including some cross-border payments.