Trade war or not, one thing is clear, according to many experts: The global importance of the Chinese yuan seems destined to rise.

Strategists and economists say flows in the currency will grow over the long term if China continues to gradually open its financial system and further pushes use of the yuan internationally.

But it won't all be smooth sailing, and a gap in Chinese authorities' willingness to allow more funds into the country is likely to remain.

Chi Lo, senior economist for Greater China at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Hong Kong, said that the yuan will become more globally important as China further allows foreign capital into the country through selective financial opening and pursues its Belt and Road Initiative trade project, part of a policy to strengthen the country's international standing.

"So if you look along that direction there's no way the yuan can be a weak currency, otherwise people won't accept it and it cannot be a global currency if it's a weak currency in the long term," Lo told CNBC on Monday, projecting about a time frame of two or three decades.

HSBC, meanwhile, said in a report released Thursday that markets have been focused on the trade war between China and the United States as the main factor affecting the yuan. But, it said, China's opening of its financial markets is "probably the more important and enduring influence" on the currency.

"The (yuan) will be increasingly driven by capital account flows, and not just trade-related flows," the bank said.