Ever since the US decided that China was a threat to its role as the world’s policeman and financier, it has been on the back foot. Provocation failed in its objective every time, as the Chinese leadership always took the long view and failed to react. It had analysed US tactics of dollar debt pump-and-dump, concluding rightly or wrongly that it could be extended to China. Sensibly, China refused to borrow dollars, accumulating them instead, implying it could be China doing the pump-and-dump by selling US treasuries and driving up bond yields.
