© 2024 Milwaukee Public Media is a service of UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

China's Role in the Current Market Turmoil

epSos .de
/
Flickr

The financial markets in this country rebounded somewhat yesterday before falling once again. The now four-day trend was brought on, in part by turmoil in the Chinese economy.

"They are in a position to manipulate their currency," Lake Effect's foreign policy contributor Art Cyr says. "They've tried to do that to gain advantage, but as the current market crash shows, that doesn't really gain you an advantage over the long term."

The Chinese government cut interest rates for the fifth time since last November, keeping them basically at zero, in an effort to stimulate economic growth. However as the markets indicate, this has not benefited the overall global economy. Cyr explains that although China is capitalist in economic terms, the government is still trying to maintain the Communist political infrastructure - so far with success.

"Communist bureaucrats may be durable in terms of their own political system, but they're not the best people to look to to deal with financial crisis," Cyr says.

Arthur I. Cyr is Director of the Clausen Center for World Business and Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College in Kenosha. Previously he was President of the Chicago World Trade Center, the Vice President of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a faculty member and executive at UCLA, and an executive at the Ford Foundation. His publications include the book After the Cold War - American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia (Macmillan and NYU Press).