Growth in the global gold market is shifting from West to East and China should further liberalize its gold exchanges. This will allow international participation with the country finally "taking its place" in the world market, said Roland Wang, managing director for China at the World Gold Council.

Wang pointed out that the expansion of strong gold trading hubs in Asia will improve price discovery, liquidity, transparency and efficiency. This in turn will transform the landscape of the gold market which will benefit China.

One catalyst for China's increasing gold pricing power is the much-talked-about yuan-denominated gold index, expected to be launched by the Shanghai Gold Exchange by the end of this year.