There is also a Rmb330bn ($53bn) RQFII scheme, allowing approved users to use offshore renminbi for onshore investments.
Meanwhile, China's young asset management groups and securities firms are designing ever more products in local currency both onshore and offshore, where Rmb2tn in deposits sits, most of them in Hong Kong.
Kaisa Group, once a favorite of foreign investors, nearly defaulted on its offshore debt this year before being rescued by another developer.
Chinese companies are ditching the renminbi and flocking to the euro to raise new offshore debt, as the imminent launch of quantitative easing in the single currency bloc sends ripples through global markets.
For example, Bolton Remotewill build your team with vetted, offshore contractors.
For Germans, the unpredictability of onshore renewable power explains the appeal of offshore wind.
The United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark all tax offshore oil and gas production in their waters.
The chunky surplus on invisibles owes more to remittances: non-resident Indians, attracted by the stability of the rupee and its higher interest rates, have been moving their offshore deposits back home.
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore.
The reason, international tax lawyers say, may have less to do with offshore tax evasion and more with a new generation of sophisticated -- and legal -- tax planning.
This includes development of the offshore renminbi market, SME financing, corporate and government bond market development.
Walking alone on a remote beach in southwest Florida, I was startled to hear splashes and a deep sigh coming from the water just offshore.
