The Washington Post article May 16 on de-dollarization is headlined, “Move Over, U.S. Dollar, China Wants To Make the Yuan the Global Currency.” This huge exaggeration, based on nothing whatsoever, presented in the article itself either in statements or actions of any Chinese official or agency or even analyst, may have been intended to stir up some spirits going into the G7 war pow-wow beginning in Hiroshima.
“Suddenly more customers are willing to settle their bills in Chinese yuan,” the article reports, “thanks variously to domestic economic crises, Western sanctions against Russia, China’s position as a major lender and growing concerns about being beholden to Washington’s policies.”
The only new information here is that U.S. sanctions have been used to prevent—by threat of trade cut-off—Bangladesh’s payments on a nuclear power project export loan from Russia, which were being made in yuan; the article says, contrary to other previous reports, that the payments are not now being made but are being placed in escrow by Bangladesh. The sanction is on a Rosatom subsidiary, and would not apply to Bangladesh transacting in yuan. But the United States, pursuant to its recently adopted policy to attempt to ruin Russia’s nuclear industry as it is trying to ruin China’s semiconductor industry, is demanding the payment not be made in any currency—i.e., that Bangladesh default on an international loan—or U.S. trade with Bangladesh will be sanctioned.
