<p>Successive Chinese governments have taken steps to increase the international usage of the renminbi (RMB), with varying results. Throughout the process of RMB internationalization, there have been two major ideological viewpoints within the Chinese leadership and among academics and policymakers. One has generally been thought of as a ‘liberal’ perspective, which has pushed for more integration with the world economy and openness within the domestic economy. The other has been a ‘conservative-nationalist’ perspective which has been much more cautious about opening up the economy and allowing private enterprise. This article seeks to explain and use a typology of political economic ideology in China in order to provide a possible explanation of the ups and downs of RMB internationalization. The article firstly considers political economic ideology in China, by analyzing the liberal-conservative spectrum of thinking in the Chinese context. It then uses this framework to suggest how the internationalization of the RMB has been affected by the prevailing domestic political economic ideology in the Chinese leadership, by first introducing the context of the opening-up reforms, and then by examining three periods of time in the RMB’s internationalization, namely the WTO accession period, the post-2008 financial crisis period, and the Xi Jinping administration period.</p>