It has become a regular occurrence within the mainstream media these days to suggest that ties between Russia and China have been “strained” over the conflict in Ukraine and that Russia may lose the support of its ally soon. In most cases these reports are highly exaggerated and based on official comments that are taken completely out of context.
After the recent meeting between Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan, very little was said by China in regard to Ukraine, other than some short and prefabricated appeals for peace and diplomacy. Such comments are generally made for the sake of international appearances and have no bearing on China’s actual agreements with Russia. There is no break in the alliance – the CCP doesn’t care about Ukraine, it cares about its own interests, and those interests include vast supplies of energy resources and other commodities purchased from Russia at a discount.
By extension, Russia/China trade relations have expanded greatly in the past several months alone with bilateral deals that completely remove the US dollar as the world reserve currency. However, the frenzy of new trade arrangements and financial exchanges may be obscuring a much more important and far reaching event, which is the digitization of national currencies.
According to Russian lawmaker Anatoly Aksakov. Russia is currently pursuing such programs.
“The topic of digital financial assets, the digital rouble and cryptocurrencies is currently intensifying in society, as Western countries are imposing sanctions and creating problems for bank transfers, including in international settlements,” Aksakov said in an interview with Russia’s parliamentary newspaper.
“If we launch this, then other countries will begin to actively use it going forward, and America’s control over the global financial system will effectively end…”
If we treat the Atlantic Council CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) tracker as a reliable reference, at least 100 countries around the world are now developing government backed digital currencies, with 11 countries already using them. Often, CBDC programs are associated more with western central banks and it is assumed that digital currency mechanisms are purely a goal for western elites. This is simply not the case.
Full article: CBDCs rising: Russia to use digital ruble in settlements with China