China Clamps Down on Exodus of Cash, Especially of Yuan

choi

James T Areddy and Lingling Wei, China Clamps Down on Exodus of Cash; Beijing places curbs on money companies can extract from country; A policy turnaround. Wall Street Journal, Dec 2, 2016.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fore ... of-china-1480604271

Quote:

"The pullback now suggests Chinese authorities are alarmed that so many companies are using it ['sweeping' 跨境人民币划款] to move yuan directly offshore, such as to Hong Kong, where it can be freely exchanged. * * * the central bank determined that the entire net outflow from China during October was in yuan, whereas during the year’s first half amounts were split between yuan and foreign currencies

"Bankers say after last month's US election, some American businesses began 'sweeping' more money out on a bet they might need to move funds quickly if the administration of President-elect Donald Trump declares a tax amnesty on U.S. corporate deposits abroad.

My comment:
(a) Regarding quotation 1. Sure, taking renminbi abroad and then selling it (ie, converting it into dollar) will depreciate renminbi. 物以希为贵. But what advantages to Chinese doing that, instead of talking dollar, it is unclear to me.
(b) I was impressed by this report, which showed that a lot of cash out of China is from multinationals that are not based within China. I waited a few days, but cn.wsj.com has not translated it.