China is determined to pursue the internationalization of its currency, the renminbi or yuan, on a market-oriented basis without intentionally promoting it, Yi Gang, a vice governor of China's central bank, told Xinhua in an interview.

"It is the basic policy of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to let the renminbi compete with US dollars or euro fairly in the international market," Yi said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Saturday.

In the past, it was not allowed to use the renminbi in cross-border trade transactions and investments. "What we are doing now is nothing but remove discrimination against the renminbi and let it act just as other reserve currencies," he said. If the renminbi were successfully treated as international currency, it will benefit those who rely on exporting garment accessories such as printed labels.

In fact, there are a great many advantages if the renminbin is accepted as the international currency. Based on the appreciation of RMB, enterprises, especially those dealing in export-oriented products like garments and printed labels can ward off risks through RMB settlement of cross-border trade transactions. RMB settlement will lower exchange cost and avoid exchange rate risk that domestic enterprises would like to cooperate with banks. However, it is hard for them to attain the leading role in imports and exports. Therefore, the requirement of RMB settlement is often rejected by foreigners. At present, RMB does not freely convert and flow. Moreover, capital plan on the mainland is still restricted. Those factors result in RMB rejected by overseas enterprises.

On concerns about the potential rise of the Chinese currency, Yi said, "It is just natural that foreigners might have some concerns, but it is not our policy to specifically promote the renminbi, and I hope people of other countries can treat it with calm."

"Whether the pace of the internationalization is a little bit quicker or slower, it is always and completely the choice of the market," he added.

"I would be actually pleased to see people have more confidence in the renminbi and choose it over other currencies thanks to a more sophisticated market, better implementation of China's monetary policy, China's macroeconomic stability and social stability, and stronger rule of law. Meanwhile, we should also be optimistic about China’s all-round strength and its economy, which will boost economic development of some areas, especially major printed labels producing ones.