China Moves Forward With Its De-Dollarization Strategy
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Could gold also begin to emerge as a leading currency in world trade? Over time, it certainly could. But the more immediate implications for gold’s monetary role center on its increasing accumulation by central banks such as China’s.
As of October 1st, the Chinese yuan has entered the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket of top-tier currencies. It now shares SDR status with the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, and Japanese yen.
Before the yuan officially becomes an SDR currency, the World Bank intends to sell $2.8 billion in SDR bonds in Chinese markets. The rollout of SDR bonds in China began August 31st. According to Reuters, China’s promotion of SDR bonds “is part of a wider push in China to… boost demand for Chinese yuan and diminish reliance on the U.S. dollar in global reserves.”
King Dollar won’t be dethroned overnight. But the place of prominence the U.S. dollar enjoys as the world's reserve currency will indeed diminish over time.
Yuan’s Inclusion in the SDR Currency Basket: Merely a Part of China’s De-Dollarization Strategy
China and Russia have mutual geostrategic interests in helping to promote de-dollarization. Toward that end, the two powers are engaging in bilateral trade deals that bypass the dollar. Annual bilateral trade between China and Russia has surged from $16 billion in 2003 to nearly $100 billion today. When China hosted the G20 summit in September, it will make Russian President Vladimir Putin its premier guest of honor.
U.S. officials are none too pleased. They fear Putin aims to expand his global reach by forging stronger ties with China.
According to the South China Post, “Some Western analysts have viewed the recent, rapid enhancement of such collaboration as the beginning of a partnership set on destabilizing the U.S.-led world order and diminishing Washington’s capacity to influence strategic outcomes.”
Some in the Hillary Clinton campaign even fear that Russia will interfere in the upcoming U.S. election to try to block Hillary’s path to the White House. Russian hackers have been implicated in a number of recent “leaks” that damaged the reputations of U.S. banks and the Obama administration. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has hinted at further releases. Hillary’s allies openly speculate that these Wikileaks hacks are being sourced from Russia.
But the Russians and the Chinese aren’t counting on cyber warfare to dethrone King Dollar. In addition to bilateral trade deals and strategic plays for regional economic dominance, the two powers are bulking up on gold. Over the past several years, Russia and China have each been adding massively to their gold holdings.
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