Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

US dollar payment system debate continues, can America use its Swift-Financial-Weapon to cut China off from Swift?

US dollar payment system debate continues, can America use its Swift-Financial-Weapon to cut China off from Swift?

Analysts and officials continue to say it is highly unlikely United States will use it’s Swift-Financial-Weapon to cut off China or Hong Kong from US dollar payment system Swift. The issue is seen as a major threat to not only China’s future economic development, but also to world peace

Debates continue among Chinese officials and analysts as to whether the United States has the ability and willingness to reduce or even completely cut off China’s access to the US dollar system, reflecting a sense of uneasiness in Beijing about the potential ramifications of a financial war with Washington.

The general consensus, according to published reports and views, is that Washington will not go to this extreme, as it has with Iran and North Korea, because of the risks that such a drastic move would pose to the US itself and to the global economy.
However, for China, the risk remains real that the US could use the US dollar’s hegemony to inflict pain on China if relations continue to deteriorate.

Washington has already announced that it will penalise individuals involved in undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and punish Chinese financial institutions that continue to do business with them – a relatively targeted approach to financial sanctions. A big question is whether these sanctions could escalate.

Wang Yongli, a former vice-president at Bank of China and a former member of the board of Swift – the international financial payments system – wrote in a note over the weekend that it would be “highly complicated and impractical” for the US to exclude all Chinese and Hong Kong financial institutions from the US dollar payments system.

“The United States has huge economic, trade and financial interests in Hong Kong. Kicking Hong Kong out of Swift would not only harm Chinese financial institutions in the city, but would severely affect all international institutions in Hong Kong, including American institutions,” Wang wrote.

Swift, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a network used by banks around the world to send and receive information about financial transactions. It is one of the pieces of infrastructure that underpins the anchor role of the US dollar in international trade and investment.

Foreign banks have correspondent relationships with US banks, through which they conduct US dollar transactions. The US government can order US banks to stop processing transactions with certain individuals, institutions and countries, denying them access to the US dollar payments system.

Wang added that China must not panic, but must calmly respond to potential US sanctions, because if the US cuts off Hong Kong from the US dollar payment system, it will “shoot itself in the foot” and deeply affect global demand. This, he said, would likely promote the establishment of a new international payment and settlement system to replace the current US dollar-denominated one, and, at the same time, pose a major threat to world peace.

A senior official in Beijing who is close to the country’s central bank told the South China Morning Post that he thinks it would be impossible for the US to exclude all Chinese institutions in Hong Kong from Swift, because doing so would be a major escalation in the confrontation between the two countries.

Ding Shuang, chief China economist at Standard Chartered bank, agreed that the US is unlikely to impose financial sanctions on Hong Kong as a whole but may sanction some individual Chinese banks in the city.

Relations between the world’s two largest economies have deteriorated sharply over a sea of issues including the trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the new national security law, and arms sales to Taiwan.

Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end Hong Kong’s special status under US law, as well as the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which provides for mandatory sanctions against individuals and entities seen as contributing to the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, and, after a year, penalties for banks that still do business with them.

Despite economists repeatedly arguing that the risk of the US cutting off Hong Kong or China from Swift is low, Chinese state media and officials have continued to discuss the potential consequences and what China could do to mitigate the risks.

“Although the US has a great influence on Swift, the organisation is not ruled by it. Given the scale of China’s economy and finance, the probability of being completely cut off from the US dollar payment and settlement system is extremely low,” the Securities Times, a newspaper affiliated with People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, said on Monday.



A commentary in the Global Times, the state-backed nationalistic tabloid, said last month that China “must be cautious of the US’s malicious intentions”. It also warned that, for the US, cutting off China from Swift would be like “drinking poison to quench its thirst”.

“Blocking China from Swift would cause big trouble and losses for China, but it would also harm the US. Although the US wouldn’t immediately lose its superpower status, US dollar hegemony would be doomed to collapse. After all, China has an economy second only to the United States, with huge dollar reserves and dollar bonds in its hands,” the commentary said.

Guotai Junan Securities, the Shanghai-based investment bank and securities company, said in a note on Monday that if the US suspends China’s access to Swift, the mainland could lose US$300 billion in trade per year. It will also lose more than US$90 billion in foreign direct investment in China and more than US$80 billion in outward foreign direct investment.

“All Chinese state-owned commercial banks, as well as the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, have joined Swift. Once they are cut off from the system, meaning the US imposes financial sanctions on all Chinese commercial banks, the source of US dollars for these banks will completely dry up,” the report warned.

For Hong Kong, the worst consequences would be the city losing its status as an international financial hub, as institutions in the city would be unable to obtain US dollars, risking the collapse of Hong Kong’s US dollar peg and a drastic depreciation of the Hong Kong currency in the short term, the report said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×