At the Oct. 19 Financial Street Forum in Beijing, PBOC deputy governor and SAFE
head Zhu Hexin said China’s opening is widening and its foreign-linked economic
structure has undergone profound change. He flagged a key shift: operating
entities are increasingly the conduit between domestic and international dual
circulation. On flows, China’s balance of payments is moving toward an
autonomous balance, with funds from current‑account surpluses increasingly
deployed abroad via firms and banks as outward investment and asset allocation.
On stocks, the share of China’s external financial assets held by firms and
banks rose from roughly 30% at end‑2010 to nearly 70% at end‑2025. Zhu said
these shifts reflect a growing market role in cross‑border resource allocation
and stronger corporate capacity for international cooperation, competition and
global resource allocation.