4% of gold reserves is fake. And what else.

"Nearly 50 years after then US President Richard Nixon ordered the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal to threaten India in the face of its imminent victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, Washington has sent the nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Nimitz to the same waters in a show of solidarity with New Delhi amid tensions both countries face with China," wrote Chidanand Rajghatta. "The USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan were deployed to the South China Sea twice this month" and, "Separately, the US strike group led by the Ronald Reagan was carrying out drills with naval forces from Japan and Australia in the Philippines Sea..." Nixon pivoted towards China on the advice of his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, who has been exposed as a war criminal and a mass murderer. "We are about midway through the period that China has set for itself to rise to a position of greatness -- beginning in 1978 -- for which it is increasingly employing coercion," wrote Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain. "Yet, China's long-term strategic vision is not something that the international strategic community is adept at assessing." There is talk of a new Cold War but, "Experts see important historical differences." China's strength derives from its expanding economy so that is where attacks should be concentrated. "Beijing has made martyrs of its banks and insurers, asking them to lend to the needy, forgo profits and support the animal spirits of its trillion-dollar capital markets," wrote Anjani Trivedi and Shuli Ren. "China's Lehman moment, when isolated events cross the line into systemic effects, is just lurking round the corner." Not so, wrote Yuwa Hedrick-Wong. "With the nominal interest rate in China at around 7% and its economy growing close to 10%, the economy overall is able to service its debts comfortably." The regulator is not so optimistic. "Chinese banks should brace for a big jump in bad loans due to coronavirus-induced economic pain, the financial regulator said on Saturday, noting a deterioration of asset quality at some small and mid-sized financial institutions were accelerating." "The 83 tons of purportedly pure gold stored in creditors' coffers by Kingold as of June, backing the 16 billion yuan of loans, would be equivalent to 22 percent of China's annual gold production and 4.2 percent of the state gold reserve as of 2019," reported Zero Hedge. "In short, more than 4 percent of China's official gold reserves maybe fake." Last week regulators seized control of Chinese conglomerate Tomorrow Holdings Co and, "On Friday, the China Banking and Insurance Commission cited business violations in its takeover of Tianan Property Insurance Co of China, Huaxia Life Insurance Co, Tianan Life Insurance Co and Yi'an P&C Insurance Co, as well as New Times Trust Co and New China Trust Co." Not much trust in trust companies, it seems. Last week "US President Donald Trump followed through on a threat to revoke the United States' special relationship with Hong Kong, which in the past exempted the city from certain tariffs, among other privileges". China's foreign minister Wang Yi made a plea to get relations with Washington back on track to a forum on China-US relations on July 9. Trouble is, Mighty Uncle Xi cannot be seen to be soft. Just keep gnawing at the foundations. It will crash.