Why China mistrusts Western speculators

There are more than a few financial figures in China that no longer trust Western financial advice (or most advisers) any more than they have to. There is a rich, as it were, history behind the mistrust. And in this, George Soros, no less, has a role.

We start our narrative with the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. For years, China had been relentlessly advised by some prominent experts in the West to stop babying its coddled currency and let it go outdoors onto the international markets to play fair and square with other big-time currencies. For decades this has been the constant whining pitch of the geek chorus in the West.

In fact, the argument has merit if China is to secure its place in the competitive world marketplace. And years later, Beijing actually moved in exactly that direction, in part to satisfy the International Monetary Fund that its currency would be freely usable and so globally market-worthy. But two decades ago, China, then not ready for the big bad sandbox, felt rushed by the West and so held back.