Quote: "Everyone can create money; the problem is to get it accepted." --- Hyman Minsky, American Economist
Fact: In Hong Kong, it is a piece of cake to convert Renminbi (RMB) into Hong Kong dollars (HKD).
Fact: In Hong Kong, it is a piece of cake to convert HKD into US dollars (USD).
Fact: In the United States, it is a piece of cake to deposit your HKD check into your USD bank account. You just need to pay your bank a service fee.
Fact: According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the fourth quarter of 2020, 59.02% of the global currency reserves goes to USD, and only 2.25% to RMB.
Observations:
1. While giving Hong Kong democracy the kiss of death, Beijing does not mean to kill the goose that lays golden eggs. So far, the HKD-USD peg has held up pretty well, thanks to Washington.
2. Washington's predictable protest against Beijing is being undermined by its predictable protection of America's interests in Hong Kong. Indeed, earlier today, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken deleted his own tweet pledging to stand with the people of Hong Kong.* Blinken ate his words fast.
3. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush opened his arms to the Tiananmen diaspora. Soon enough, he also opened his arms to the Beijing regime. The PRC was welcomed back to the international community, and the Bush family went on to do well in China trade consultancy.# What President Biden's doing today echoes what the senior Bush did in 1989. Washington, like Beijing, knows how to milk Hong Kong for all it's worth.
4. It is business as usual. Or is it?
--- Lingyang Jiang
*https://www.foxnews.com/politics/blinken-deletes-tweet-vowing-us-will-stand-with-the-people-of-hong-kong
# "(George H.W.) Bush charged $250,000 a day." See John Pomfret's The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom; America and China, 1776 to the Present, page 498.
"Horse racing goes on."
