Military Intervention in Hong Kong Would Spell Financial Disaster for China, Says Expert

A Chinese bank worker counts a stack of U.S. dollars together with stacks of 100 Chinese yuan notes. China is driving up its national debt to finance its foreign currency reserves, the largest in the world. STR/AFP/Getty Images

A prominent Chinese economist recently revealed that out of China’s total foreign reserves, only a few hundred billion dollars are freely usable. He warned that deploying Chinese troops to Hong Kong will bring disastrous consequences to China’s economy, because Hong Kong is a major source of China’s foreign reserves.

Wei Jie, an economist and professor at the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, gave a speech at a summit forum on business management in Beijing on Oct. 25 to discuss future economic policies. As the former director at the research institute of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), he is regarded as one of the think tanks for Chinese leaders.