Solomon Samuel 
Pudong’s plan includes educational institutions with special rights, a unique visa system, and access to top-notch facilities.
The Pudong New Area in Shanghai is undergoing a modernization plan that includes the implementation of various pilot projects for the digital yuan, which is China’s pilot central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Additionally, the plan calls for the construction of significant new international trade facilities. The General Office of the State Council and the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party announced the ambitious five-year plan, which is outlined in a document published by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
The plan stipulates granting new authorities to the Pudong New Area to facilitate its development as an international hub. In addition to “convenient” customs procedures, it will have a commercial mediation mechanism following international norms.
Improved supply chain management will enable the more accessible flow of commodities through newly constructed port facilities, surrounding free trade zones, and Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
Newly established educational institutions will be granted special intellectual property rights for research and development. As part of the plan for pudong, educational institutions will implement a unique visa system to recruit international talent from nations that are partners in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
These countries will have access to world-class medical and educational facilities. According to reports, these advances will provide a dynamic foundation for developing new uses of the digital yuan, also known as the digital renminbi. The plan must include the following:
“Pilot the use of digital renminbi in trade settlement, e-commerce payment, carbon trading, green power trading and other fields, and standardize and expand the application scenarios of digital renminbi in the use of fiscal funds.”
The document states that it will accomplish significant successes in building a high-standard market system and a new high-level open economic system by the year 2027, with breakthrough progress in institutional innovation.
China is rapidly developing application cases for the digital yuan. It has established linkages with several banks located in other countries.
Among other things, it has used the digital yuan to conduct transactions on Shanghai exchanges involving gold and petroleum. While this is going on, the Chinese government has once again taken a hard stance against cryptocurrencies and has issued warnings against the usage of Tether and other stablecoins.
The Chinese government has also made mining cryptocurrencies illegal in China. The Chinese government has taken relatively severe actions against cryptocurrency miners.
Legislators in the United States have voiced strong opposition in response to the Chinese CBDC. In November, Senator Rick Scott filed the Chinese CBDC Prohibition Act, the most recent attempt in the United States Congress to thwart the development of the digital yuan.