The country has long planned to make its currency, known as the renminbi, or people's money, fully convertible.
All these developed countries already have fully convertible capital accounts.
Relaxing state control is a critical step toward achieving the government's goal of making the country's currency fully convertible.
The Czech crown became fully convertible for most business purposes in late 1995.
One indispensable reform is to make the ruble fully convertible.
Fully convertible and backed by $42 billion in reserves, the real trades at $1.15.
That merger is still expected, but not until China makes the yuan a fully convertible currency.
Economists hope the auction will prove to be the first step toward a fully convertible ruble.
The conditions attached to the loan included making the pound fully convertible to the dollar.
But that is unlikely to happen until China's currency becomes fully convertible, at least three years away.