, Columnist
China’s Financial Diplomacy Is Still Minor League
Beijing’s lending spree to developing nations looks impressive, but the dollar’s hegemony has yet to be broken.
Counting on China.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When there’s something wrong in your financial system, who you gonna call? The custodian of the far-from-perfect-yet-rarely-so-essential reserve currency. The dollar's stature is all the more impressive given the US’s receding share of the world economic pie. This gives American policymakers vast sway in shaping — and saving — global markets. China doesn’t come close.
That hasn’t stopped Beijing creating waves by lending to developing countries and becoming a player in bailouts, a controversial but critical arena that was once almost the exclusive preserve of America and the International Monetary Fund.