MNI China Press Digest April 19: Digital Yuan, Climate, Japan

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

China's digital currency is not designed to challenge the U.S. dollar's global dominance, PBOC Deputy Governor Li Bo said at the Boao Forum as reported by the Securities Times. The PBOC will widen the digital currency's domestic use while promoting the Chinese currency's internationalization, said Li. The PBOC needs to improve the regulatory frameworks for the digital currency before an official launch can be decided, Li told the Forum. The PBOC is also probing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to gauge the financial risks, Li said.

China should proactively advance the Paris Agreement and prevent the U.S. from using its leadership to damage the interests of China, the Global Times said following an agreement between China and the U.S to jointly tackle the climate crisis. China should prevent western countries from monopolizing the climate change issue at the expense of China and other developing countries, it said. The U.S. creates diplomatic obstructions for China and Russia even as it seeks cooperation on climate, the newspaper said. The deterioration of the international environment is self-evident, with the U.S. overtly trying to contain China, it said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has further strained relations with China by displaying an alliance with the U.S. to contain China in his meeting with President Joseph Biden last week, the official China Daily said in an editorial. Japan had already soured relations through its decision to discharge the nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific, it said. However, Suga's words were weaker than expected given his likely intention to strike a balance with Japan's economic ties with China, the Daily said.