This research note presents a detailed analysis of the opening up of China’s markets. China’s capital controls, its restrictions on cross-border movements of money and investment, are a safeguard against financial instability; but they also constrain the country’s ability to turn the renminbi into a fully international currency, limiting its potential geopolitical clout Over the past decades, China has slowly increased outside access to its capital markets and deepened financial development, while still maintaining control; this gradual liberalisation has broadened