A longstanding plan by China and Russia to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency has had a string of recent headline-grabbing successes, as China methodically builds a rival monetary system that has been dubbed “Bretton Woods III.”
This currency initiative is the financial component of China’s strategy to gain influence over global energy supplies and overcome its key weakness as an energy-poor country—a strategy that appears to be working.
“Given the increased weaponization of the dollar for national security purposes, and the growing geopolitical rivalry between the West and revisionist powers such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, some argue that de-dollarization will accelerate,” economist Nouriel Roubini wrote in a Financial Times op-ed titled, “A Bipolar Currency Regime Will Replace the Dollar’s Exorbitant Privilege.”…