China yesterday denied rumors that the country’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川) had fled after the bank posted huge bond losses, a report said.
Several Chinese Web sites reported on Monday that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) had incurred a US$430 billion loss on bonds from US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that Beijing might punish some people, including Zhou.
RUMORS SWIRL
The Web sites cited the Ming Pao Daily as their source, but the Hong Kong newspaper denied publishing any such articles, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The reports fueled rumors among Chinese Internet users that Zhou had left the country.
“They say that Governor Zhou has fled …” central bank deputy governor Hu Xiaolian (胡曉煉) said. “But in actual fact Zhou was chairing a PBOC meeting.”
SHARES DOWN
Chinese shares were down 0.44 percent in afternoon trade.
“Usually market volatility is in response to economic news, data or analysis. People will speculate on such factors. But to speculate on this sort of thing is extremely abnormal,” Hu said.
AT WORK
The central bank was at pains to prove that Zhou was at work, issuing two statements on Monday with photos of the PBOC governor meeting with a Japanese official and a former Italian official.
The Ming Pao Daily said its “editorial department clarifies that it hasn’t made any such report, and it strongly condemns the act of using Ming Pao’s name to spread false information.”
The newspaper said it had reported the incident to the Hong Kong police and mainland authorities.
The central bank declined to comment on the report when contacted by journalists.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS