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Hardly. China has also been slower than hoped to increase transparency - both at the government level and the private level - and step closer to freeing the People's Bank of China to conduct an independent monetary policy.

The lack of autonomy is evident in the PBOC's current reluctance to cut rates. True, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman wasn't entirely correct when he said that inflation and deflation are monetary phenomena . However, China could benefit from more yuan liquidity flowing into the economy, paired with bold reforms.

With China's property crisis deepening and youth unemployment at record highs, Xi's government needs to step up efforts to boost household spending. And to address plunging real estate prices to stabilize broader confidence.

China's financial system has become less, not more, transparent, and the media have become less free to report on official and corporate shenanigans. Xi is steadily imposing Beijing-like opacity in Hong Kong , risking the laissez-faire ethos for which the city is renowned.

Keeping yuan internationalization on track means getting the cart-and-horse dynamic right. In recent years, Xi's team has largely pursued a model that prioritizes size in building credibility in markets. It's been slow, though, to do the heavy lifting on reforms needed to garner trust organically.

This means removing all currency controls and allowing for full convertibility, establishing a more credible credit rating system, and facilitating the dissemination of news and data crucial to China becoming a world-class financial destination.

As Morgan Stanley economist Robin Xing put it:“On the fundamental level, wider international use of yuan rests on a robust economy and further progress in capital account convertibility.”

Here, there's tension between the short term and the longer term.

“Economic momentum is weak in the third quarter,” said economist Zhiwei Zhang, president at Pinpoint Asset Management.“Export activities have been surprisingly resilient so far this year and helped to partly offset the weak domestic demand.”

Lisheng Wang, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said that China's“August slowdown in government spending growth, continued accumulation in fiscal deposits and the sharp decline in infrastructure investment during July to August suggest policymakers are not in a rush to step up stimulus amid still-resilient exports.”

In other words, exports are providing Team Xi with a cushion to push forward with efforts to deleverage the economy. Many argue that, in the short term, Beijing could accelerate growth with minimal effort .

Slower growth in August, Wang said, can largely be attributed to the fading effects of consumer goods trade-in subsidies for home appliances and electronics.

At the same time, September consumption could have slowed“more meaningfully” thanks to“unfavorable base effects,” and that“incremental and targeted easing” is necessary in the coming quarters.

As such, Zhang said“the slowdown is not a surprise to the markets.” Yet, even if Team Xi's fiscal policy stance turns“more supportive on the margin,” large stimulus packages seem unlikely unless party bigwigs fear China may miss this year's 5% growth target.

However, the bigger concern is that efforts to strengthen the underlying financial system haven't kept pace with the waves of foreign capital flooding into China.

But this trajectory depends on the ability of Xi's team to keep China on the reform path.

Economist Bruno De Conti, co-author of a new book on the New Development Bank, formerly known as the BRICS Development Bank, argues that for the yuan to eventually become an important reserve currency, additional steps are needed involving further deregulation of the Chinese capital account.

“Recent efforts by developing countries to diversify their currency reserves away from the US dollar have raised serious anxieties in the Global North as much as it has raised hopes about the new dawn for the economies of the Global South away from unfettered US dollar dominance,” De Conti argued.