Money has been leaving China at a record rate. Beijing is battling to stem the tide

Beijing is stepping up the battle to stop money flowing out of China as the country contends with economic woes and trade war tensions that have eased but show no sign of ending altogether. Money was leaving the country at a record clip earlier this year through unauthorized channels, according to analysts. That's bad news for China, which needs to keep financial reserves high to maintain confidence in its markets.

Now Chinese officials are trying harder than ever to avoid a repeat of the financial scare four years agothat sapped its money reserves by hundreds of billions of dollars. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, a key government regulator, said Sunday that its most important job next year is to prevent major financial risks, avoid "abnormal" capital flows across its borders and crack down on illegal trading activities.

"We need to fight a critical battle" to defuse financial risks and maintain market stability, SAFE said in an statement. The pledge was an unusually strong one for the agency, which deployed the kind of military language more often used by top leaders in China.

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