Liu Shijin: The appreciation of the Renminbi is more beneficial than harmful, and in the medium to long term, it will promote the improvement of productivity and competitive advantages.

The "Sina Finance 2025 Annual Conference and the 18th Golden Unicorn Forum" was held in Beijing on January 15, 2026. The theme of the conference was "The Start of the 15th Five-Year Plan, a New Economic Journey - Reshaping the Growth Paradigm, Creating Future Prosperity". Liu Shijin, Deputy Director of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC Economic Committee and former Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, attended and delivered a speech. Regarding foreign trade, Liu Shijin said that despite the unfavorable international environment, China's exports have maintained strong momentum this year, which is not easy and is an important reflection of the improvement in technology and industrial competitiveness. However, it should also be recognized that a large-scale trade deficit in goods means a corresponding reduction in domestic consumption, which is one of the reasons for insufficient domestic consumption. From the long-term trend of international trade, this is also unsustainable. Therefore, he suggested that China should implement a strategy of basic trade balance in the next step, while maintaining and enhancing export competitiveness, expand imports accordingly, and pay for more and even mainly in RMB for settlement. Liu Shijin pointed out that according to the data, the ratio of RMB reserves to foreign trade is much larger than the ratio of the two. "Therefore, we need to change from past hoarding foreign exchange to using RMB more for settlement, thereby accelerating the expansion of the offshore RMB scale, and improving the liquidity and convenience of RMB international use, so that the percentage of intelligent RMB is in line with the share of China's economy and China's real economy in the global market." In addition, he also mentioned that currently, China's manufacturing sector accounts for about 30%, but the ratio of currency functions is below 5% or even below 3%, "this situation needs to be changed." To make the percentage of various functions of the RMB in line with the share of China's real economy in the global market, promote the RMB to quickly become an international strong currency and appreciate reasonably, and share the international premium of China's super-large-scale economy. Liu Shijin emphasized that "the RMB entering the appreciation channel is generally more beneficial than harmful, which may affect exports in the short term, but in the medium to long term, it is beneficial for increasing productivity and promoting the rapid iteration of competitive advantages."