China’s Dollar Trap

June 25, 2009

Here is a very well written article about China’s predicament with the U.S. dollar and explains why they won’t be talking down the dollar anytime soon:

From the Weekly Standard

The Dollar’s New Best Friend
Beijing warms up to the greenback–because it has to.
by Gordon G. Chang

Last Tuesday, Brazil, Russia, India, and China–the so-called BRIC nations–met in Yekaterinburg, Russia, for what was supposed to be an anti-American gabfest. The main agenda item for the first formal meeting of the four largest developing economies was the future of the dollar. In recent months, Beijing and Moscow have led a global charge against the greenback, and Brasilia has been a willing co-conspirator in the effort. The BRIC post-summit communiqué referred to the world’s currency problems but, to the surprise of observers, did not attack the dollar head on.

The Chinese government in the last few weeks seems to have radically changed its tune on this issue. In March, Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of China’s central bank, called for the replacement of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency in a widely reported text released to the public. In May, however, Beijing officials took a different tack, going out of their way to talk about the dollar’s unique status.

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Posted in china, chinese yuan, forex blog