In the latest move toward China’s long-term strategy of internationalising its currency, the Chinese Ministry of Finance announced today it will issue government bonds valued at 6 billion yuan in Hong Kong.
The last article I wrote on this subject was a little over a week ago when the Chinese Vice-Premier Wang opined that the [...]

According to an account published in the Daily Telegraph by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the Chinese government is quite anxious about money printing in the United States and the effect this printing could have on China’s dollar denominated reserve assets.
For months now, the Chinese have signalled growing unease with U.S. monetary policy. And now comes the clearest [...]

I want to highlight the good work of the BBC again. The last time I featured one of the BBC documentaries, it was about (conspicuous) consumption in China and the push to get Chinese citizens to spend more in order to support the economy.  Today, I want to highlight another BBC documentary, this time on [...]

Nouriel Roubini is the most prominent economist to warn that a double-dip recession would be a distinct possibility if economic policy-makers return to policy normalization too quickly.  Now, Stephen Roach, head of Morgan Stanley Asia, is making similar arguments. 
Roach was on Bloomberg Radio’s show Bloomberg Surveillance with Tom Keene and Ken Pruitt yesterday, where [...]

Chinese vice-premier Wang Qishan has been appointed to lead a taskforce to make the renminbi the currency of choice for trade settlements, especially with regional trading partners. HSBC economist Qu Hongbin believes this latest salvo in China’s intensifying efforts to ditch the dollar demonstrates the Chinese are moving sooner than most expect to internationalise their [...]

The Chinese are getting serious about addressing overcapacity that has developed in industry, according to statements released by the state press. This should be seen as a positive development given concerns about a bubble in property and shares and stories of malinvestment related to China’s attempts to reach lofty growth targets.
 China’s State Council said yesterday [...]

The conventional wisdom is that the US is beholden to foreign agents as they hold much of the US government debt.  In this view, if these agents sell their securities, interest rates in America should increase as demand for US public debt evaporates.
Now comes evidence that China is indeed selling.  The BBC reports.
China reduced its [...]

Many economic prognosticators believe Chinese consumption growth is key to a global economic recovery.  The US consumer, who had been the buyer of first and last resort during the bubble years, is tapped out and indebted.  The new engine of global growth must come from elsewhere.
On Friday, BBC Radio 4 released a broadcast called “Selling [...]

The US is not the only place where a double dip downturn is to be feared.  China has its own economic imbalances to deal with.  Too much money is being thrown at the problem creating malinvestment and a bubble economy, shares having doubled this year alone.
Stephen Roach thinks much of the stimulus money in China [...]

Late last year, I anticipated that the global slowdown would bring China’s GDP growth down to 2%, a level that would make most nations envious but which would have been catastrophic for China.  In the end, robust government stimulus has saved the day, as spending for infrastructure, commodities, and property has soared.  The 8% growth [...]