<story><title>Beijing&apos;s US Treasury holdings dip</title><url>https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-war/China-sells-dollars-and-buys-gold-as-tensions-rise</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>conjecTech</author><text>This is a misrepresentation which is trying to paint a relatively weak position as a stronger one. A small fraction of that money is being spent on gold. According the financial times[1], China only bought 15.6 tonnes - about $675 million worth[2], compared to the dollar deficit of ~$7.5 billion.&lt;p&gt;China has a trade surplus with the US, but is net losing dollars because it has to use dollars to buy oil and other imported goods as very little international trade is transacted in yuan. They aren&amp;#x27;t choosing to shift away from the US dollar. They need them and are going through their stockpile.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ft.com&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;ca50aa10-8b18-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989972&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ft.com&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;ca50aa10-8b18-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989...&lt;/a&gt;
[2]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wolframalpha.com&amp;#x2F;input&amp;#x2F;?i=value+of+15.6+tonnes+of+gold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wolframalpha.com&amp;#x2F;input&amp;#x2F;?i=value+of+15.6+tonnes+o...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ttul</author><text>You’re correct here; however, the narrative that China wants Americans to see is that they can mess up the dollar. The truth is selling a huge pile of dollar denominated bonds wouldn’t do much other than hurt China by pushing up the yuan and thus depressing exports even further.</text></comment>
<story><title>Beijing&apos;s US Treasury holdings dip</title><url>https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-war/China-sells-dollars-and-buys-gold-as-tensions-rise</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>conjecTech</author><text>This is a misrepresentation which is trying to paint a relatively weak position as a stronger one. A small fraction of that money is being spent on gold. According the financial times[1], China only bought 15.6 tonnes - about $675 million worth[2], compared to the dollar deficit of ~$7.5 billion.&lt;p&gt;China has a trade surplus with the US, but is net losing dollars because it has to use dollars to buy oil and other imported goods as very little international trade is transacted in yuan. They aren&amp;#x27;t choosing to shift away from the US dollar. They need them and are going through their stockpile.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ft.com&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;ca50aa10-8b18-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989972&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ft.com&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;ca50aa10-8b18-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989...&lt;/a&gt;
[2]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wolframalpha.com&amp;#x2F;input&amp;#x2F;?i=value+of+15.6+tonnes+of+gold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wolframalpha.com&amp;#x2F;input&amp;#x2F;?i=value+of+15.6+tonnes+o...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rrggrr</author><text>Additionally, China&amp;#x27;s gold acquisitions may be as a hedge against inflation risks as they (a) devalue the RMB; (b) reportedly see 70% increases in pork prices due to swine flu, and (c) need to purchase gold to keep their ~3 year old RMB&amp;#x2F;Gold&amp;#x2F;Petro market intact.</text></comment>