ONE ECONOMY TO RULE THEM ALL:

Beijing wants to internationalize the yuan in part for economic reasons. It helps the economy adjust to integration with the global economy.  It's also a political goal: China wants the yuan to be one of the core currencies held by central banks around the world as part of their emergency reserves. The yuan as a "reserve currency" would be a symbol of the country's international power.

There's no doubt the dollar is still king, however.

International investors are buying record amounts of U.S. debt, pushing the dollar to a five-year high earlier this month. Foreign holdings of U.S. treasury securities topped a record $6 trillion in August as Europe flirts with another recession, emerging markets slow down and Japan faces a tough battle to revive long-stagnant growth.

The greenback's share of global currency reserves has held fairly steady over the last two decades. In 1995, the dollar represented 59% of total global currency reserves reported to the International Monetary Fund. It rose to a high of 72% before the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s, but has hovered around 61% for four years.

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