China is getting ready this month to sell $2 billion in bonds. But these aren’t bonds in Chinese currency. It’s selling bonds in U.S. dollars — something China hasn’t done in many years. If investors buy bonds from China using U.S. dollars, it means they are lending those U.S. dollars to China. So when China said it’s offering dollar bonds, it’s saying it wants to borrow dollars. The question is — why? China already has some $3 trillion in U.S. dollar reserves.

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