China has been opening channels to directly trade the yuan with other major currencies — taking the US dollar out of the equation.
Yen-yuan direct trading began June 1 but the uptake has been slow thus far, according to the WSJ:
The equivalent of $63 million is traded daily, according to Mizuho Bank, down by half since June from what was hardly a world-beating launch. Some perspective: Dollar-yen trading in Tokyo averages $145.4 billion–with a “b”–daily.