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Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

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111–120 of 257 posts

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#111
post #7

I like Japan --I think for a mid-sized country they have done well for themselves... but their representation in foreign reserves is a bit outsized. The Yuan, given China's economic strength, has nowhere to go but up. We'll have to see how European Central banks like that in 10-20 years when they exert more influence on policy.

The yuan is not convertible, like the yen, dollar, and euro are. It doesn’t float, it’s exchange rate is set by fiat. When the yuan is actually traded in the wild, then it will move a few steps closer. I don’t think the government will ever let it get stronger than 6 rmb/usd, it would absolutely ruin their exports.

China also imposes heavy capital controls on the ability to move yuan into and out of the country and exchange it for other currencies, which makes it seem like an interesting choice here.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#112
post #62
post #7

I like Japan --I think for a mid-sized country they have done well for themselves... but their representation in foreign reserves is a bit outsized. The Yuan, given China's economic strength, has nowhere to go but up. We'll have to see how European Central banks like that in 10-20 years when they exert more influence on policy.

> I like Japan --I think for a mid-sized country they have done well for themselves Japan is the third or fourth largest economy and the 11th most populous country in the world. Nothing middle about it.

Unless you think about some metric of relevant countries in the global arena, like the G8, then it makes sense.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#114
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start with informing the public, until a ballot would succeed? Most of the people being against the EU are against it because they only ever hear the bad sides? They never realize that most of the bad things "the EU" did were actually things the council did. Which actually just means that the heads of states of all EU nations agreed on it. If you end the EU, all power goes to these negotiations, and you'll only see t…

> Start off with replacing this propaganda It sounds like you just want to substitute another set of propaganda . Many people were quite happy to establish a European Common Market. Few had a direct input to moving that to Union. So first you'd need to turn the clock back 40 years and explain why anything deeper than a market is necessary.

> So first you'd need to turn the clock back 40 years and explain why anything deeper than a market is necessary.

I think that’s pretty obvious, when you’re trying to compete with China or the US head-on, isn’t it?

Do you really think "just a market" of european nations will ever be able to stand alone on the world stage, being able to negotiate on eye level with another superpower?

Do you think we will be able to get our own Silicon Valley ever, when startups have to deal with 28 tax laws, 28 consumer laws, 28 different languages, 28 different regulations for everything? No European startup has ever actually managed that. They always first expand in their home country, and then to the US or China – the largest unified markets with unified laws and unified languages, where they can grow better. And companies starting in those markets always have an advantage.

Do you think in "just a market", our legislatives and executives would ever have been able to regulate companies as large as Google? Companies so large that if you ban them from your country, half your country’s productivity is lost over night? If you try to regulate them when you’re just Denmark, Google will just stop running in your country. No European country alone would be powerful enough to regulate such large multinationals anymore. Only together are we large enough that these multinationals have to cave.

Do you think negotiating a separate treaty for each of the things we currently do via EU law would be better? Treaties take years to negotiate, and will run for decades. You can’t just replace them, or change them. On the other hand, every 4 years we can just replace all EU institutions, and the parliamentarians, and change policy. This allows a much more democratic decision process.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#115
post #92
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Religious persecution doesn’t disappear just because of economic growth. Neither does discrimination against sexual preferences (+). That’s the fear expressed above. (+) unless you limit your knowledge of sexual preferences to just gay/straight — human sexuality is much more complicated than that.

> Religious persecution doesn’t disappear just because of economic growth. Neither does discrimination against sexual preferences (+). That’s the fear expressed above. The hypocrisy of a country that props constant wars all around the globe, has bombed/invaded 3-4 countries in the last 20 years alone, and constant meddling and manipulations of other governments for its "interests", that had segregation up to the 70s,…

I agree that the United States' run as the world's biggest superpower has been far from perfect. I criticise the US a lot. And I actually consider China to be one of the few countries that is not governed by amateurs. China gets a lot of things right.

The one big problem, though, is that China does not believe in freedom. At all. Censorship, no free press, no freedoms of opinion, expression, religion, etc. And they see nothing wrong with that. Whenever the US hurts these freedoms, they get criticised, even by their own people, and they eventually back down.

The fact that the US promises freedom but constantly breaks that promise makes them hypocrites, but it also always has the option that they will get back to their promise. China does not see the point of freedom at all, and considers it dangerous. And that's terrifying.

If we're going to have a superpower, I would love a China that respects freedom in that role. They would be better at it than the US. But current China is not that China.

As flawed as the US is, they at least have that going for them (pre-Trump US, at least). Though ideally, the EU would step up. They don't seem to want to, though.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump is definitely an issue. His talk about abandoning NATO, ridiculing EU to drive his own argument for domestic issues, makes him pretty hard to be likable from EU establishments' perspectives. On the least insignificant level, the message is pretty clear: US is destabilizing, and Trump might only be the beginning of it. With a isolationist and hostile US government, EU naturally would seek another anchor for safe…

In the end, the EU needs to do what it must to survive and that IMO means federalize. A united EU would not need an anchor for safety.

Eh, that seems to be a pretty big leap in logic. Europe doesn't need a unified nationstate, if it has strong institutions that fullfil nationstate-esque functions. We are at a good level of that on economic, monetary and judicial matters. The fiscal issues of the EU are in the process of shaking themselves out.

What we are lacking is effective military cooperation. Even NATO is not very good at this, unless the US is shouldering the majority of the load. The situation is improving slowly, though the continued struggles of the A400m and other defense projects show that we have a long way to go still. OTOH given our strategic position and Russia's continued weakness there is no real rush.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#117

I need HN’s help... What benefits do countries/governments/politicians get when their currency becomes internationally accepted?

I think one of the major benefits is, when china’s currency is accepted by other countries, that means the products (or service) made in china are accepted by other countries. When chinese products are accepted by other countries, those countries are willing to use their own products to trade with those chinese products...

I am not talking about specific products, but those manufacturing in macro sense...

There is no use to hold a certain currency when you are not able to use it for the time being or at some point of time in the future...and the more you hold a certain currency, the longer you are expecting it is useable or the more you expect it to increase its value.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#118
post #103
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if the biggest problem is some bizarro religions and BSDM are frowned upon / deemed illegal so be it

5-10% of the population are “into” BDSM, although sex surveys are notorious for underestimating things. Atheism is a curious thing to call a “bizarro religion”; likwise for different reasons Islam, given the latter has ~1.8 billion followers worldwide.

I seriously doubt that. 5-10% of what? the _US population_? I'm pretty certain that 5%-10% of the population have more serious and pressing matters than worrying about their sexual preferences.

luxury problems as they say.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#119
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've not mentioned where you're from. You're on an American site, and you talked about Brexit, so I assumed British or American. >English used to be the most important language, these days it’s German and Chinese I'm having a very hard time thinking of a country where both German and Chinese are more important than English. Where is this?

China and Germany?

Chinese is more important than English in Germany, and German is important than English in China? Remember the point the GP was trying to make was that it's hard to imagine a country where both languages are by some measure more important than English.

Re: Europe’s central banks are starting to replace dollar reserves with the yuan

#120
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this particularly a reason to worry? I for one welcome a well needed fresh wind in our global ecosystem.

Because as much as people love to hate on the West and its faults, it is also the most tolerant system and allows for the most freedom in every category. The Chinese do not value things like freedom or tolerance very much, especially if they conflict with order. The value of the individual is also extremely low, whereas the West held the individual as the most valuable thing until just recently when group identities…

Just a reminder that slavery was abolished in 1865, 153 years ago.

And recently, lots of laws have been passed restricting freedom.

NSA has been watching your every move.

The west only has freedom on paper.

And countries change and adapt.

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