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> China as of this September holds $3.055 trillion in foreign currency reserves. US could just freeze/seize those assets, just like it did with the Russian one
by 323 4y ago
> China as of this September holds $3.055 trillion in foreign currency reserves.
US could just freeze/seize those assets, just like it did with the Russian ones hold oversees. And it can forbid accepting the other ones.
As the saying goes, when you owe the bank $100 mil, the bank has a problem.
Of course, as retaliation China could stop all exports to US. This is the real mutual assured destruction.
- nine_zeros 4y agoAnd this MAD was the entire thesis for globalization after WW2. Let the wars be economic and not human.
- 323 4y agoBut what happens when people start dying because of economic war. What's the difference between 1 million dead because of a nuke or 1 million dead because you are out of energy due to economic war.
- cwillu 4y agoIf you hold harm constant, of course they're the same. What weighs more, a kilogram of iron or a kilogram of feathers? Wrong question! Which is more likely (not “possible”, “more likely”) to injure you: a kilogram of iron falling overhead, or a kilogram of feathers?
- simonh 4y agoThis of course does happen in some places in the world, but there's no conceivable route to this happening in developed countries, and certainly not due to sanctions. Europe's in for a hard winter, but millions of people aren't going to die from the cold.
- 323 4y agoI was actually thinking about China. It's supply routes are highly vulnerable. It's called "The Malacca Dilemma". 1 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-u3saTerYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-u3saTerYU