中國計劃將人民幣電子化測試擴展到北京，香港

 Yahoo News on 16.8. 2020 reported the following:

China Plans to Expand Digital Yuan Tests to Beijing, Hong Kong

Joanna Ossinger and Dong Lyu

Bloomberg yesterday

(Bloomberg) -- China has outlined plans for further tests of its digital currency initiative, now aiming for trials in areas including Beijing and Hong Kong.

A digital renminbi trial will start in some of the country’s most developed regions, the Commerce Ministry said in an announcement on Friday that didn’t provide a timeline. Tests will take place in the area of northern China encompassing Beijing, coastal city Tianjin and Hebei Province; the city cluster in the Yangtze River Delta region including Shanghai; and the Greater Bay Area in the Pearl River Delta Region including Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau.

Cities in central and western China may also undertake the trials if they meet certain conditions, the ministry said, without specifying what they were.

The exercise will kick off in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou, Xiong’an and sites for the 2022 Winter Olympics and will then expand to other regions, the announcement said.

The digital currency trials are part of a broader package of initiatives Beijing rolled out on Friday to stimulate innovation and encourage further opening of its service sector. The same day, the country reported steady industrial growth in July, though retail sales continued to show weakness.

China has been ramping up plans and testing for the People’s Bank of China digital currency in recent months, an initiative that some see as a threat to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and even potentially someday to the U.S. dollar’s dominance.

In April, Bloomberg News reported that state-owned Chinese banks were conducting internal, hypothetical-use tests of the currency. Last month, Softbank Group Corp.-backed ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing said it was working with the PBOC on tests of the currency and Bloomberg reported that Tencent Holdings Ltd.-backed food delivery giant Meituan Dianping was planning tests on its platforms as well.

Translation

（彭博社）-  中國已經勾畫出對其電子貨幣計劃進行進一步測試的計劃，目前的目標是在北京和香港等地區進行測試。

商務部在周五的公告中稱，將在該國一些最發達的地區開始試用人民幣電子化，但沒有提供時間表。測試將在包括北京，沿海城市天津和河北省在內的中國北方地區進行；包括上海在內的長三角地區的城市群；以及珠三角地區的大灣區，包括深圳，香港和澳門。

該部表示，如果中西部城市符合某些條件，他們也可能會進行試驗，但沒有說明具體情況。

公告稱，試驗將在深圳，成都，蘇州，雄安以及2022年冬季奧運會的地點開始，然後將擴展到其他地區。

電子化貨幣試驗是北京周五推出的旨在刺激創新並鼓勵其服務業進一步開放的一系列舉措的一部分。當天，該國公告7月份工業在穩定增長，儘管零售額繼續表現疲軟。

近幾個月來，中國一直在加大對中國人民銀行電子化貨幣的計劃和測試，這一計劃被一些人視為對比特幣等加密貨幣的威脅，甚至有可能在某天對美元的主導地位構成威脅。

彭博新聞社（Bloomberg News）4月份報導稱，中國的國有銀行正在對該貨幣進行內部假設使用測試。上個月，由軟銀集團公司（Softbank Group Corp.）支持的乘車公司滴滴出行（Didi Chuxing）表示，正在與中國人民銀行（PBOC）合作進行人民幣匯率測試，彭博社報導稱，騰訊控股有限公司（Tencent Holdings Ltd.）支持的食品配送巨頭美團點評（Meituan Dianping）也在計劃對其平台進行測試。 。

              From China’s point of view, both politically and economically, there are many good reasons to include Hong Kong into its currency digitization project. It is another sign that Hong Kong is moving closer to the orbit of China.