Yuan-Dollar Battle Continues

Leaders also discuss North Korea

(NEWSER) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing today, and emerged with a number of deals—including one that will marginalize the US dollar in Asia. The countries agreed to promote direct yuan-yen trades, the Wall Street Journal reports; until now, the money has usually been converted to dollars first. Japan will also hold yuan in its typically dollar-dominated foreign-exchange reserves. More»

Provides written answers to cherry-picked questions

(NEWSER) - Chinese President Hu Jintao is speaking to the American media—albeit through written answers to questions he selected from lists submitted to him by the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal —for the first time since 2008. Among the topics? "Common ground," the dollar, and the yuan. Hu, who will be in Washington this week for a state visit, said China and the US could both gain by finding "common ground" on issues like fighting terrorism, clean energy, and nuclear proliferation—and only "stand to ... lose from confrontation." Other highlights: More»

Rebound to spur calls for currency revaluation

(NEWSER) - China's exports rose 17.7% in December, ending a 13-month drop in trade and stealing the title of 'world's largest exporter' from Germany. The year-on-year surge is seen as a sign that China's hard-hit manufacturers have made it through the financial storm. But it's not all good news for China, as the rebound is sure to reopen the debate over the country's currency. More»

(NEWSER) - China is speeding up efforts to encourage the use of its currency in international trading, with analysts predicting that the Chinese renminbi will become one of the three top currencies by 2012, reports the Times of London. In recent months Beijing has inked currency-swap deals with central banks from Korea to Argentina and expanded the currency's use in financial powerhouse Hong Kong. It's a major change for China, which holds trillions in US currency. More»

Krugman: Beijing knows it's in trouble, remains tied to old ills

(NEWSER) - China’s recent call for an alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency underlines how much trouble the country is in after years of stockpiling greenbacks, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times. The Chinese, long unwilling to let the yuan float freely on foreign exchanges, are signaling that they need to be rescued from their own mistakes, but “that’s not going to happen.” More»