China’s Monetary Ambitions: RMB Internationalization in Comparative Perspective

What is the political process of China's move to internationalize its home currency? How different is Chinese RMB internationalization from the currency internationalization of other great powers? What is the international destiny of the RMB? By addressing such questions, this study challenges three prevailing views of RMB internationalization: realist determinism, American exceptionalism, and liberal hype. This article argues that a feedback model can be useful for our understanding of the process timing and direction of RMB internationalization. This study also identifies key similarities and differences among Germany of the 1930s, the United States of the 1960s, and today's China in their currency internationalization. This comparison will reveal important structural factors that may contribute to a slow path to full RMB internationalization, and the emergence of the hybrid model of Chinacentered monetary order in the East Asian region.