Shuli Ren, Columnist

China Isn’t Using Its Currency as a Cold War Weapon

The yuan has every logical reason to weaken against the dollar right now. If anything, Beijing has been hands-off.

Cold war comrades.

Photographer: Fred Dufour/AFP
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The deterioration of U.S.-China relations is fast and furious, with Washington throwing out accusations of unfair trade practices, unlawful technology transfer and an early cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed over 100,000 American lives. The Chinese yuan, this year’s beacon of stability, is now is now at risk of tumbling like other emerging markets currencies.

On Wednesday, the offshore yuan, which trades freely, flirted with its weakest level on record, dropping as much as 0.7% to 7.1965. While Thursday morning’s yuan fix came in stronger than expected, the overall sentiment is downbeat.