China Uses Rules on Global Trade to Its Advantage – China Business

Changes already underway in China "will gradually erode" the country's ability to closely manage the value of its currency and force the renminbi to float more freely on world markets, the U.S. Treasury said yesterday in a report that declined to cite China as a "currency manipulator."

Last week Japan’s minister of finance declared that he and his colleagues wanted a discussion with China about the latter’s purchases of Japanese bonds, to “examine its intention” — diplomat-speak for “Stop it right now.” Senior American policy figures have repeatedly balked at doing anything about Chinese currency manipulation, in part out of fear that the Chinese would stop buying our bonds.

The Chinese government is set to announce a revision of its currency policy in the coming days that will allow greater variation in the value of its currency, combined with a small but immediate jump in its value against the dollar

China's currency swap with Argentina is the highest-profile move yet in a quiet campaign by Beijing to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar by expanding the reach of its own tightly controlled yuan to Asia and Latin America.