Experts say China's yuan is ready to become a global heavyweight

Experts say that the increasing attractiveness of Chinese investment has been spurred by including its financial markets in key global indices.

Chinese A shares debuted on index provider MSCI's emerging market benchmark in June, and the country's land-based bonds are set to become part of the Bloomberg-Barclays Global Aggregate Index from April next year.

Investors have also taken advantage of the opportunities to invest in Chinese stocks and bonds through "connect" schemes run through Hong Kong. One for shares involving London is in the works.

Other factors including the International Monetary Fund's 201[ads1]6 inclusion of the yuan in the pricing of its separate subscription rights reserves, and China's launch of terminated crude oil futures contracts in yuan March are examples of the overall trend.

Some experts, however, said that China faces challenges in the coming decades to cut the yuan's global role.

Cliff Tan, East Asian leader of global market research at MUFG Bank in Hong Kong, said the government should become less selective in economic opening.

"They build a very niche market for certain things you might want to do if you want to move capital to China," he said Monday.

But Qinwei Wang, senior economist at Amundi Asset Management, told reporters in Hong Kong that the government clearly wants the yuan to play a wider global role and cited currency swaps. People's Bank of China has reached other central banks as an example.

And while they are merely symbolic in the first place, they can be seen as part of "China's efforts to improve, increase acceptance of the (yuan's) internationalization," he said.