Officials worry that the same measures could be taken against Beijing in the event of a regional military conflict or other crisis. President Xi Jinping’s government has maintained strong support for Vladimir Putin throughout the crisis, but Chinese banks and companies remain wary of any dealings with Russian entities that could lead to US sanctions. The internal conference, held on April 22, included officials from China’s central bank and finance ministry, as well as executives from dozens of local and international lenders such as HSBC, the people said. The finance ministry said at the meeting that all major foreign and domestic banks operating in China were represented. They added that the meeting began with remarks by a senior Treasury official who said the Xi government had been put on alert because of the ability of the US and its allies to freeze the assets of the Russian central bank in dollars. Officials and bystanders did not name specific scenarios, but a possible trigger for such sanctions is believed to be a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory and has threatened to invade if Taipei refuses to take control. indefinitely. “If China invades Taiwan, the disconnection of the Chinese and Western economies will be much more serious than [decoupling with] “Russia because China’s economic footprint touches every part of the world,” said one of the people briefed on the meeting. Andrew Collier, chief executive of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong, said the Chinese government was right to be concerned “because there are so few alternatives and consequences.” [of US financial sanctions] they are catastrophic. “ Senior regulators, including Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Committee, and Xiao Gang, who chaired the CSRC from 2013 to 2016, asked attending bankers what could be done to protect his assets. nation abroad, especially $ 3.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. China’s huge dollar holdings range from more than $ 1 trillion in US government bonds to New York office buildings. The state-owned Dajia Insurance Group, for example, owns Waldorf Astoria New York.

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“No one on the ground could think of a good solution to the problem,” said another person who was briefed on the meeting. Swift, as the US has done. It happened in Russia. “ HSBC did not respond to a request for comment. Some bankers suggested that the central bank could require exporters to exchange all of their foreign exchange earnings for renminbi to increase its land reserves in dollars. At present, exporters are allowed to keep part of their profits in foreign currency for future use.

Others have suggested a “significant” cut in the $ 50,000 quota that Chinese nationals are allowed to buy each year for overseas travel, education and other offshore purchases. When an official asked Chinese bankers if they could differentiate into more yen or euro-backed assets, they said the idea was not practical. Some bankers present, however, doubted whether Washington could ever afford to cut ties with China, given its position as the world’s second largest economy, huge dollar assets and close trade. with the USA. “It’s difficult for the United States to impose huge sanctions on China,” Collier said. “It’s like a mutually guaranteed catastrophe in a nuclear war.” Additional References from Tabby Kinder in Hong Kong