Chen told reporters the move to improve convertibility would not drive down the exchange rate for the renminbi, hurt China's balance of payments or add to inflationary pressures.
Once the actual value of expatriated dollars actually exceeded US gold reserves, Richard Nixon simply ended the convertibility of dollars into gold for international exchange purposes.
Something similar happened in Argentina after it adopted its convertibility plan: people started to believe that biting the bullet of a permanently fixed exchange rate was enough, on its own, to cure the economy's problems.
As well as lowering business costs, direct convertibility may pave the way for New Zealand's central bank to diversify some of its foreign-exchange assets into Chinese government bonds.