China printing banknotes for foreign countries 'shows advanced technology': analysts
China's ability to print the currencies of other countries shows that the nation's technologies and anti-counterfeiting measures are widely recognized and trusted. And there is no reason to have national security concerns as this is a licensed service, a Chinese expert said.
The South Morning China Post on Tuesday reported that the country is printing foreign currencies on a massive scale, and most of the demand comes from countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, which are located along the routes of the Belt and Road initiative. Several money production plants across China under the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corp (CBPM) are running at near full capacity to meet an unusually high quota set by the government this year, the media report said.
The CBPM is led by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank. A source close to one currency paper mill of CBPM in Baoding, North China's Hebei Province confirmed to the Global Times that the mill only supplies a small amount of papers for foreign banknotes. The source declined to give details on the size of the orders.
Another mill in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province, declined to comment on the matter when it was contacted by the Global Times on Tuesday.
"If it's true, it shows that China's banknote printing technology is now so advanced that other countries contract their banknote production to our factories, and China's services is trustworthy," Tu Yonghong, a professor at the International Monetary Institute at Renmin University in Beijing, told the Global Times.
However, Indian officials denied the report on Tuesday, deeming the possibility as a "big threat to India's national security" and "financial sovereignty," according to local media outlet India Today.
"In such cases, customers and manufacturers sign agreements in line with related regulations," Tu said, adding that claims that this might jeopardize other nations' security is groundless.
"Plus, central banks control the quantity of money in circulation," she added.
In January, the CBPM delivered 5-rupee notes to Nepal, after having earlier produced 100- and 1,000-rupee notes, according to its website.
CBPM's factory in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province delivered 2-baht coins to Thailand in May, worth a total of 90 million Thai baht ($2.7 million).
