Chinese central bank gets with the program

Chris Burford cburford at gn.apc.org
Thu Jan 6 16:01:20 PST 2000


At 02:18 06/01/00 -0500, Doug wrote:
>Financial Times - January 6, 2000
>
>CHINESE CENTRAL BANK SHIFTS TRADING STANCE
>By James Kynge in Beijing
>
>China's central bank open market operations have become a "main tool"
>of monetary policy, a top official said on Wednesday, in a further
>sign that Beijing is speeding up the modernisation of its financial
>system.
>

...


>His statement confirms a broad trend in the reform of the People's
>Bank toward slowly relinquishing the functions of a command economy
>central bank, and instead wielding influence through a series of
>market-based mechanisms.

Provided at the highest level capital has a social character it is not finance capital.

Clearly China is making all sorts of compromises with the market in order to compete and survive internationally. But strategically at the global level it appears to be maintaining the option of working in its own interests against international finance capital headed by the USA. It is also willing to cooperate with other capitalist forces globally to break the domination of US finance capital.

A more flexible market economy is not necessarily a mixed one in which just part of the economy is centrally commanded and the other part is laissez faire capitalist. A more socially coherent type may be to allow market principles to operate in all sectors but to control the overall distribution of capital in a socially coherent way.

There is still much to play for. IMHO. And the final stage is the global one.

Chris Burford

London



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