00:00Dr. Yan Yang is Chair Professor of Economics at Willamette University.
00:05Well, I think the evidence has suggested that, you know, China's financial deepening and opening have been working very well in the sense that, you know, R&B now, according to Pan Gongsheng, the central banker, is now the second largest trade finance currency.
00:20The R&B, of course, was included in the SDR, the currency basket, and it is also increasing being used, especially in China, for the course border payments.
00:30So I think China has been able to promote the internationalization of R&B uses in a graduate and also very secure manner that we haven't seen any major financial turbulences as China is in a very calibrated way to open up its financial sector to the rest of the world.
00:47The rest of the world is watching with interest, obviously, foreign investors in particular.
00:52What other policies might be brought in for foreign investors?
00:58Well, I think China has been opening up the financial sectors in terms of insurance, in terms of wealth management industries, in terms of, I would say, banking, trade finance.
01:08And now China also facilitate the offshore bond insurance by foreign enterprises, you know, in the foreign trade sector.
01:20I think there are many also interesting and emerging, I think, policies that are talking about expanding, for example, the high-tech firms listing and also green finance.
01:32So I think all of these areas are, in a way, open to the foreign investors in a limited way, of course, in a pilot, in an experimental way, as China always do, right, in this sort of gradualism approach.
01:45But I think the exciting news, of course, is the trend is that China is going to continue to develop its financial sector and also introduce foreign investors into China, for example, expanding the so-called QFII, the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors Investment Opportunities in China.
02:01So I think it is an exciting area in terms of the global investment landscape.
02:06I think foreign investors definitely should keep a close eye when it comes to, you know, the diversification of their investment portfolio.
02:13I think China is really a very interesting place to look at.
02:16Shanghai and Hong Kong's financial centers pledging to work together.
02:21How significant is that?
02:24Well, I think it's very significant because Shanghai, as we all know, is now really emerging as international financial centers.
02:31Especially in Asia, the Asia-Pacific area.
02:35And I think, you know, Beijing, of course, is the political center.
02:39It is also where, you know, treasuries, the Ministry of Finance, I mean, in China's context, and the central bank are at.
02:46And so I think the close coordination between this financial center and the political and policymaking center really indicate, you know, this policy coordination,
02:55which is, I think, very important to streamline all these policy implementations, but also to get really coherent regulatory framework.
03:03So I think this is, you know, again, a very important, I would say, milestone to indicate, you know, China's determination and the very effective measures to improve its physical policy,
