What's interesting is that headline trade figures often mask a more nuanced reality. When we look at external accounts, the picture becomes considerably more balanced than the numbers might initially suggest.

Here's the thing with PBoC reserves: they've stayed relatively flat since 2017. But starting from 2020, analysts increasingly recognized something crucial—that stability didn't mean reduced intervention. Quite the opposite. Official currency management was actually more active than the static reserve figures would lead you to believe.