Abstract:

The global system of economic, trade and financial rules is undergoing, with the adjustment of existing rules and the expansion of new ones advancing in parallel, and with regionalization, bloc formation and fragmentation intertwined. Within this shift, cross-border payment and digital currency, owing to their pivotal institutional functions, have become a key frontier of rule-making, and the relevant international rules remain in a contested, still-forming window period. Focusing on cross-border payment and digital currency, this report examines the evolutionary logic of international rules and the institutional models of major economies: the United States pursues a stablecoin-first, retail-CBDC-restraining strategy; the European Union adopts a defensive-regulation-first, dual-track approach; and China has formed a three-in-one architecture of the digital renminbi (e-CNY), the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) and the multi-CBDC bridge (mBridge). On this basis, the report assesses China's practical foundations, its gaps against high-standard international rules, and the main constraints it faces in advancing institutional opening-up in key areas. It argues that China should take cross-border payment and digital currency as the priority lever, coordinate rule alignment with autonomous institution-building, balance efficiency gains with security and controllability, and move progressively from rule-taking toward rule-participation and rule-shaping, so as to strengthen its institutional voice in global economic governance.

Full text: China's Institutional Opening-up Path amid the Transformation of Global Economic, Trade and Financial Rules