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https://www.hindustantimes.com/worl...s-for-india/story-VwoTOL6ezSeHR3WLN5ZHTN.html
China will not jeopardise the security interests of another country even if it is printing currency notes for it, a top government official told state media following a news report that Beijing was printing notes on a “massive scale” for foreign countries including India.
The only statement on the claims so far did not clarify whether China was printing notes for India.
A report by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said on Sunday that China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPM) was printing currency notes for India and several other countries.
In 2015, the CBPM started printing notes for Nepal, following the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a multi-billion dollar connectivity project launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013.
“Since then the company had ‘seized the opportunities brought by the initiative; and ‘successfully won contracts for currency production projects in a number of countries including Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Brazil and Poland,’” the newspaper quoted Liu Guisheng, CBPM president writing for China Finance, a bi-monthly journal run by China’s central bank, People’s Bank of China (PBC) in May.
The article said China was doing it to expand its economic and geopolitical influence. The CBPM reports to the PBC.
New Delhi has denied the SCMP report.
“Reports about any Chinese currency printing corporation getting any orders for printing Indian currency notes are totally baseless. Indian currency notes are being and will be printed only in Indian government and RBI currency presses,” Subhash Chandra Arya, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs tweeted on Monday.
China, however, hasn’t yet denied the SCMP report.
Chinese state media picked up reports from New Delhi quoting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on the issue.
“If the news is true, it will have an impact on national security. Not to mention the Pakistani rupee. It is easy to fake,” Tharoor tweeted. He also asked the government to clarify the matter.
But a top Chinese official dismissed Tharoor’s fears.
“This statement is very ridiculous,” Bai Ming, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Cooperation (CAITEC), which is affiliated to Ministry of Commerce, told Global Times, indicating China wasn’t deliberately trying to spread its influence or expose loopholes in security.
Bai said currency of any country is determined by the authorities of that country.
“Cooperation with China will not affect the interests of the other party. China has not let other countries be in debt for ‘obeying’ China. We don’t have this ability. We don’t want to do this. The only thing we pursue is mutual benefit,” Bai said.
Bai told the newspaper this argument is a replica of the “China threat theory”. “But this time it has extended to the currency field,” he said.
The Global Times report said modern banknote printing facilities are extremely complex and expensive to operate, and use technologies that are not available to ordinary companies to reduce the risk of counterfeiting.
“Some security features require costly patent fees, and many countries are unable to afford the cost of printing the banknotes they need,” it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on questions emailed by HT.
The People’s Bank of China is also yet to respond to HT’s questions.
China will not jeopardise the security interests of another country even if it is printing currency notes for it, a top government official told state media following a news report that Beijing was printing notes on a “massive scale” for foreign countries including India.
The only statement on the claims so far did not clarify whether China was printing notes for India.
A report by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said on Sunday that China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPM) was printing currency notes for India and several other countries.
In 2015, the CBPM started printing notes for Nepal, following the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a multi-billion dollar connectivity project launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013.
“Since then the company had ‘seized the opportunities brought by the initiative; and ‘successfully won contracts for currency production projects in a number of countries including Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Brazil and Poland,’” the newspaper quoted Liu Guisheng, CBPM president writing for China Finance, a bi-monthly journal run by China’s central bank, People’s Bank of China (PBC) in May.
The article said China was doing it to expand its economic and geopolitical influence. The CBPM reports to the PBC.
New Delhi has denied the SCMP report.
“Reports about any Chinese currency printing corporation getting any orders for printing Indian currency notes are totally baseless. Indian currency notes are being and will be printed only in Indian government and RBI currency presses,” Subhash Chandra Arya, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs tweeted on Monday.
China, however, hasn’t yet denied the SCMP report.
Chinese state media picked up reports from New Delhi quoting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on the issue.
“If the news is true, it will have an impact on national security. Not to mention the Pakistani rupee. It is easy to fake,” Tharoor tweeted. He also asked the government to clarify the matter.
But a top Chinese official dismissed Tharoor’s fears.
“This statement is very ridiculous,” Bai Ming, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Cooperation (CAITEC), which is affiliated to Ministry of Commerce, told Global Times, indicating China wasn’t deliberately trying to spread its influence or expose loopholes in security.
Bai said currency of any country is determined by the authorities of that country.
“Cooperation with China will not affect the interests of the other party. China has not let other countries be in debt for ‘obeying’ China. We don’t have this ability. We don’t want to do this. The only thing we pursue is mutual benefit,” Bai said.
Bai told the newspaper this argument is a replica of the “China threat theory”. “But this time it has extended to the currency field,” he said.
The Global Times report said modern banknote printing facilities are extremely complex and expensive to operate, and use technologies that are not available to ordinary companies to reduce the risk of counterfeiting.
“Some security features require costly patent fees, and many countries are unable to afford the cost of printing the banknotes they need,” it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on questions emailed by HT.
The People’s Bank of China is also yet to respond to HT’s questions.
