In a sudden move clearly intended to stave off criticism at the G20 meeting in Toronto, China loosened the yuan’s twenty-three-month-old peg to the American dollar earlier this month, allowing its currency to appreciate against the greenback. This week’s Sinica Podcast looks at the domestic drivers—both in China and in the U.S.—of the fracas over China’s currency move. We also look at the Southern Media Group’s surprising, but unsuccessful, bid to purchase Newsweek from the Washington Post, which has been looking for a buyer for the money-losing publication for several months.
Joining Kaiser to discuss these topics are New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos, who has written recently on the Chinese Newsweek bid, and Gady Epstein, the Beijing bureau chief for Forbes magazine and close follower of Chinese monetary policy. So join us for a lively and enlightening podcast that talks about Chinese money and what it can and can’t yet buy.