Increased use of RMB in trade helps stabilize Intl trading system, says business insider

LONDON - With China's large trade volume, the increased use of the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB) in international trade will help stabilize the international trading system, a business insider has said.

The RMB, or the yuan, is getting increasingly popular and acceptable as more and more countries are willing to sign currency swap deals with China, and more countries are starting to use the currency to settle cross-border trade, said Wu Kegang, director of BCC LinkToChina, a partnership project between the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

"I think in the future, a large number of Chinese companies who are dealing with international trade probably will start using RMB as the currency of settlements," Wu told Xinhua in a recent interview. "When that happens, then the Chinese currency would truly become the international currency of choice."

Noting that China has been the largest trader of the world for several years, Wu told Xinhua that the speeding up of the currency's internationalization is very timely and "doesn't surprise me at all."

He said the volume of China's trade is seen as an important stabilizing factor of global trading system now, and the currency getting more involved in international trade will be able to help stabilize the international trading system and also boost confidence for the Chinese economy.

During the interview, he also refuted some negative reports about China from many international observers, "particularly using the Western economic theory to monitor and observe Chinese economy."

Wu, who just came back from a two-month trip in China, said the situation on the ground is a lot more stable. "The manufacturing, the economy is a lot more stable than the media have reported over the last three years," he noted.

"The internationalization of the currency will also provide evidence for the outside world to see how strong and resilient the economy is," he said.