Following the official launch of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, Dr. Nicola Casarini explores how the internationalization of the renminbi can benefit the global economy with an emphasis on the Eurozone.

2013 has seen three remarkable changes in China-US economic and trade relations, writes Zhou Shijian.

China's latest round of reforms arrives at a critical moment in the debate about the renminbi’s internationalization. Should the renminbi join the US dollar and the euro as an international vehicle currency, and can Shanghai subsequently become a first-tier international financial center?

October’s shutdown of the US federal government elicited responses from Chinese leaders and businesses alike. These responses all seemed to send the same message – the US must get its house in order or China will not be investing in the United States much longer.

As recent reports suggest the Renminbi yuan is going through its most active role in the global trading market in history, Yi Xianrong advises against overestimating what this means for the yuan’s globalization. Yi suggests accelerating the pace at which the yuan is open to the outside world and establishing an effective exchange-rate pricing mechanism before globalization can be discussed.

With the Fed publicly considering an end to its massive, open-ended purchases of long-term securities and foreign capital fleeing home from emerging markets, many fear that Asia’s economies could come crashing down, as they did in the late 1990’s, writes Liu Mingkang.

Commenting on the recent US-China 2022 report, He Weiwen outlines how bilateral trade between China and the US is expected to grow over the next ten years and how this will be beneficial for both countries.

China’s declining GDP has sent shockwaves through the financial sector as analysts begin to question China’s long-term economic strategy. As Minxin Pei points out, “zombie firms,” or companies primarily supported through bank loans and government subsidies, are complicating China’s sustained growth. By eliminating these firms and instituting reforms, China can bolster innovation and ensure the opening of its economic markets.

Although China’s slowing growth has caused a stir amongst analysts; He Weiwen explains China’s growth rate is not of concern.

Thanks to the central government’s stabilization policies, Chinese enterprises have accelerated production to make up the inventory rather than slowing down production to digest the inventory. The macroeconomic operation will continue the rising trend and China’s GDP growth in 2013 may be faster than 2012.