Growing acceptance: A bank employee counting 100-yuan notes in Nantong, China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Usage of the currency has jumped in the past three months as international funds boosted holdings of Chinese government bonds. — AFP `
BEIJING: The Chinese yuan is making deeper inroads as a currency of choice for global payments, with international transactions climbing to their highest level ever. `
Payments using the currency jumped to a record 3.2% of market share, according to data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, breaking through its previous high set in 2015 that came on the back of a currency devaluation in a bid to increase exports. `
Usage has jumped in the past three months as international funds boosted holdings of Chinese government bonds, pushing their share to a fresh record, and amid gas producer Gazprom Neft’s decision to accept yuan rather than dollars for fuelling the Russian airplanes at China’s airports. `
The People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang urged emerging economies to promote the use of local currencies at a Group-of-20 central banks’ gathering Wednesday, echoing a similar call from Indonesia to reduce reliance on the dollar to manage the risk of Federal Reserve’s stimulus withdrawal. `
The yuan will be one of the biggest beneficiaries as “trade between various Asian countries and China grows, and more of it is denominated in yuan,” said Alvin T. Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong. `
Yuan’s growing popularity could also provide additional support for assets denominated in the currency, even as China’s yield premium over the United States narrows due to policy divergence between the two nations. She expects the yuan to be assigned a larger share in the International Monetary Fund’s reevaluation of Special Drawing Rights basket in July. `
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal that deepens China’s regional foreign trade ties will also prompt member nations to raise yuan asset holdings due to further economic integration with China, she wrote in a note Wednesday. `
The currency retained its fourth place in the past two months, compared with being the 35th most-popular medium of exchange for payments in October 2010 when Swift, which handles cross-border payment messages for more than 11,000 financial institutions in 200 countries, started tracking. `
Despite its rise in the rankings and having upped its market share by orders of magnitude over the last 12 years, the yuan is still dwarfed in popularity by its more established peers, notably the US dollar and the euro. `
The dollar kept its top spot in January, a position it’s held since June, even though its market share fell to about 39.9% from 40.5% in December. `
The euro also lost ground but held onto second place, while the British pound and yen rounded out the top five in third and fifth place, respectively. — Bloomberg
The cooperation between China and France on the RMB
Cross-Border Interbank Payment System will help with
internationalization of the yuan and will also provide an opportunity
for the eurozone to reduce its reliance on the US dollar, experts said.
Recently there were quite a few videos coming out from an Indian Internet TV channel going by the program name of *"Gravitas"*.
This channel is similar to the TV channel *NTD ("New Tan Dynasty") TV* and the *Epoch Times* (newspaper) which are both owned and operated by the *Falun Gong Cult* from their HQ in New York and known far right US/Trump supporters and financiers).
Gravitas is always posting right wing anti-Chinese propaganda videos.
*Gravitas* is operated by an Internet TV network called World In One Network... *"WION"*.
It's owned by the *Essel Group* from Mumbai under one Subash Chandra. Sometime last year it got into very serious financial problems and was bailed out in late *November 2019* by the Invesco Group of Atlanta USA which also took a large block of their share. (Prior to this takeover there was almost no anti-chinese rhetoric from them)
The question to ask is "why would a US fund management company mangling more than USD 1 trillion in assets want to bail out a bankrupt "Mumbai" Internet TV company?... and also take a large block of its shares, especially when *it is not their business as fund managers* to do so and go bailing out bankrupt Indian businesses.
Invesco is a very large Fund management group managed by a team of hard core right wingers ... now can you see why this TV channel is putting out such matters.
They continue to call the virus *"Wuhan" virus* and refer this pandemic as a "disease from China", when the name has already been officially known as SARS-CoV-2, and the disease Covid-19.
The only other persons who still insisted on calling it "Wuhan virus" are those right wing liars Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence. The Duckbrained President called it a Chinese virus ... they hated China. Their so called human rights attacks on China, firstly using Tibet and the Dalai Lama, then Xinjiang and the Uighurs, then HK are just a pretext to kicking open the doors for their nonsense to go in. ..... don't trust this bunch of frauds and their propaganda.
I
do share the views expressed. We saw when both stood up for Venezuela,
and possibly Iran. Heavy weight China/ Russia partnership does move the
geopolitical needle and change the balance equation. Never expect war,
but Putin did flex some biceps.
There are many predictions about China's economic collapse. Why isn't that happening?
Take Evergrande!!!!
Why did so many Economists predict that Evergrande collapse would be huge etc etc????
Because they are stupid??? No
Because they are biased??? Maybe…but they are still reputed Academics who wont just tout propaganda
So Why????
BECAUSE THEY LOOK AT EVERYTHING FROM THE US ANGLE (And the European Angle and the Japanese Angle and the Indian Angle) or the US LENS
In the United States - The Shareholder is GOD
So any Collapse of a Company , leads to a blow in the Markets which causes massive massive massive losses and creates all the financial crises since 1929.
In China - The Investor is GOD
China believes that the Speculator is a Gambler. They restrict major funds from investing too much into the Stock market and ensure that the Common Citizens who invest in the stock market know that they can lose their shirt or win a pile of gold.
Instead their Focus is on the Investor - the ones who paid for the Houses, the ones who bought Bonds etc. They are to the Chinese - the backbone of Economics.
IN the United States - Rule of Law is Cumbersome but Absolute
This means - THE LAW Comes First. So whenever any Company Collapses - you have Chapter 11s filed , Protection of the Company Directors and Shareholders , Allowing the Company to file counter suits etc.
This means the Assets of the Company get wound up for an average of 46 months and by this time shares plummet to Zero.
Thus a Companys failure means failure for all its investors.
In China - The Public is Absolute or the Common Man
China puts everything including Freedom or Human Rights above the Common Man.
So in China when a Collapses - the System will first Force a company to pay back its investors.
The Law never interferes
The Company has to pay back its investors by selling Assets, swapping Assets etc.
This means Assets of a Company can be disposed off in weeks rather than months or years.
And thus Investors almost always get between 55% - 100% of what they invested
IN the US - Value is all about Perception
US doesnt like the word ‘Assets’ or ‘Profits’
They like ‘ Potential’ or ‘Expansion’
This means many Companies in US are almost always heavily bloated with very little Real Assets
So in a sense US is mostly like India. They do nothing until a company folds and then its Chapter 11 and in some cases - FBI investigations or SEC investigations
So when a Company crashes - its Perception or Potential crashes and its Value crashes.
In China - Value is all about ASSETS
China doesnt like words like ‘Potential’ or ‘Closing a Deal’ etc.
They like Hard Core Assets - Land, Contracts, Trade Deals, Gold, Jade, Coal , Gas Pipelines are what they love.
So when a Company crashes - It always has Assets to back it up and these Assets manage to salvage a big chunk of Value
So thats what is helping China ignore Evergrande or even a Real Estate Crisis while if this was happening in US or even India - people would be scrambling for cover.
Yet while Economists are good - they simply dont think like a Chinese or know the Chinese System
My Associate Lawyer in Singapore told me how Westerners focussed on Huge Office Space whereas a CHinese office was a small 15X10 enclosure and yet you had 10 times larger deals floating through the same.
Likewise Most Western Personal Debts are based on paperwork etc. Most Chinese Personal Debts are given based on just the mans face and his Chop (Chop is a personalized Stamp like thing with Unique Chinese characters)
So those who make Predictions on China - Just dont understand how China works
Its why Singapore never makes Predictions on China. They simply report the US Predictions and Laugh because They are Chinese too.
Likewise South Korea understands the Chinese Way as does Taiwan and even HK
Thats why South East Asia really didnt care too much about Evergrande. They just reported what the West said but ignored it.
Thats why South East Asia scrambled in Panic when Lehman Brothers folded. They also know how US works and knew how big a crisis it was.
Just change your glasses and wear a Chinese one - and you will see just how different Chinese Business is compared to the Western models
How Generation MZ in S. Korea view jobs and the workplace
The luxe life: Shoppers with tents and portable chairs lining up outside a Chanel store in Seoul in December. With homes beyond the reach of millennials and Gen Z-ers, many are spending their money on luxuries, helping to make South Korea the seventh largest market for luxury brand items globally. — Bloomberg
LATELY, the foreign press has featured some intriguing articles on South Korea’s “Generation MZ,” a term that encompasses millennials and Generation Z, or roughly those born from the 1980s into the 2010s.
For example, Bloomberg reported on young people in South Korea in their 20s and 30s standing in a long line at 5am to buy famous brands at a department store. The New York Times, too, in an article called “The new political cry in South Korea: ‘Out with men haters’”, covers another side of the MZ generation: the rise of anti-feminist sentiment among many Korean young men. `
In the eyes of the foreign press, these behaviours of South Korea’s younger generations must look weird. However, despite some obvious problems, there is a grain of reason in some of their unusual behaviours. Many Korean men born between the early 1980s and early 2000s cannot find a decent job today, and this harsh reality has left them deeply disillusioned and frustrated. They are angry at their society for not providing them with a happy, stable life. `
In that sense, they are the Angry Generation. They are angry because their unemployment status has also forced them to give up vital things in life, such as getting married, having children, owning a home and a myriad of other things. That is why MSN called them “South Korea’s Give-Up Generation”. Korea’s Generation MZ also calls itself the Lost Generation. `
Since they cannot afford a home in their lifetimes due to skyrocketing real estate prices, Generation MZ finds pleasure elsewhere; they buy luxury cars or merchandise from a famous brand instead. It is no wonder, therefore, that they are willing to stand in a long line early in the morning to purchase luxury items or drive a Mercedes or BMW. Ostensibly, their attitude looks like snobbery, and yet deep down, there is sadness and anger in their desperate, extravagant spending of money. `
As for young Korean men’s anti-feminist attitudes, there are reasons behind that, too. They believe that feminism belongs to the older generation, who discriminated against women in a male chauvinist society. Assuming there is no longer real discrimination against women in South Korean society, these young men in their 20s think that it is unfair and absurd to give advantages to young women in the name of feminism. `
Moreover, they are angry because they think women take away all available jobs while men still have to fulfil mandatory military duty for about one-and-a-half years. That is why Korean young men think that it is only fair that Korean women, too, have compulsory military duty, just like men. `
Of course, young Korean women do not agree with them. Women argue that there is still discrimination against women at workplaces in salaries and wages. Besides, if a woman becomes pregnant, she feels the invisible pressure to resign, unless she works at a government institution. `
Korean women are also disappointed in Korean men because they think it is unmanly for them to demand that women serve in the army under the guise of gender equality. `
Yet despite these profound gender differences, both men and women of Generation MZ can agree that their government has failed to provide them with happy, secure lives. `
Young Koreans detest the older politicians’ self-righteousness and the illusion that they represent justice. Young people in Korea are perfectly aware that what the officials call “justice” is arbitrary and thus even dictators can claim that they represent justice, just as Michel Foucault perceived it many years ago. `
Young Koreans also hate the hypocrisy of the older generation that preaches “fairness,” while they themselves are relishing the sweetness of privileges and unfair advantages. `
Korea’s Generation MZ also does not approve of the older generation’s servile attitude towards bully nations. `
Young people in Korea think that Korean politicians should say “No!” to their neighbouring countries when they are overbearing and rude. `
Young Koreans are confident and proud because they live in an advanced, affluent country. `
To a certain extent, Korea’s Generation MZ resembles America’s Soft Generation in the 1960s. `
American parents who had gone through the Great Depression in the 1930s raised their children as sheltered kids who were consequently vulnerable to violence and adversity. `
The parents of South Korea’s Generation MZ, who had gone through the IMF (International Monetary Fund) financial crisis, also raised their children as sheltered kids with over-protection and excessive care. `
South Korea’s Generation MZ may look selfish, but they value individual freedom, fairness and transparency. They detest group-oriented, communal impositions and dogmatic political ideologies. `
Moreover, they are computer- savvy kids who live with social media every day. Recently, a Reuters story contained the headline, “South Korea‘s Gen MZ leads rush into the ‘metaverse’”. `
They are the future of South Korea. In the upcoming presidential election, Generation MZ should choose wisely so they can have a bright future.
– The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
By Kim Seong-kon, a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College, the United States.
