"China's central bank is preparing to take new steps to lift the global profile of the yuan as the International Monetary Fund reviews whether to grant it elite status as a reserve currency. In a report issued late last week, the People's Bank of China detailed moves it will take to encourage the IMF to take that step, putting the currency on a par with the dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling...To win approval from the IMF, Beijing must make the case that the yuan can easily be used in international markets. Potential steps listed in the report include opening the door wider for foreign central banks and other institutional investors to invest in China's bond market," writes The Wall Street Journal.
Bloomberg reports, "Vietnamese fishing craft clashed with Chinese boats near the disputed Paracel Islands last week, underscoring simmering tensions between the two communist countries even as their leaders talk of improving relations...The clashes follow other recent incidents, with a Chinese marine police boat reportedly spraying water cannons at a Vietnamese fishing vessel in late May. The Paracels remain a flashpoint between Vietnam and China and are part of overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes."
According to The Wall Street Journal, "After a year and a half of trying to sell a Beijing-backed election plan for this city, Hong Kong's leaders are preparing for failure. The city's legislature on Wednesday is expected to vote down a plan to let Hong Kongers vote directly for the city's chief executive in 2017-but only from a prescreened slate of candidates...While the plan is billed as the city's first one-person, one-vote system ever, pro-democracy lawmakers have pledged to vote against it, saying it doesn't offer Hong Kongers a genuine say in who will run the city. Their bloc is large enough to deny the government the two-thirds majority it needs to pass the plan."