The Chinese government decided to push down the exchange rate against the US$, when previously they had not been pressing down very hard ... in order to reverse the appreciation against the Euro, ASEAN, Latin American and African currencies. That was a reverse of their policy which was previously prioritizing getting placed into the IMF SDR basket.

That operation requires buying US$ denominated assets.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.