Chapter 550: It's Time to Work!

The "invisible war" led by Soros shocked the world like a volcanic eruption. Thailand and Malaysia, which are at the epicenter of the epicenter, are suffering unspeakably. The economic conditions of Southeast Asian countries continued to deteriorate, and the foreign exchange and stock markets plummeted all the way. Governments have given up defending their defenses and are beginning to give in, acting like they can't fight back, allowing their currencies to rise and fall in the market. International currency speculators are even more emboldened, calling for wind and rain in the Southeast Asian financial market, and they are rampant. On the other hand, Hong Kong, across the sea, has tensed its nerves more than ever, and the lonely Hong Kong dollar seems to be a rabbit in the wilderness, always on the lookout for approaching wolves, and doing everything possible to avoid falling into this quagmire.

Although it was later confirmed that the shock of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market in mid-August was just a tentative attack by an international investment group led by Soros's "Quantum Fund", and perhaps the intensity of the attack was not even an attack. They use financial futures to buy Hong Kong dollars with 3-month or 6-month Hong Kong dollar futures and then quickly sell them short. As a result, the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar once fell to 7.75:1, which is known as an important psychological key point of the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate.

Hong Kong's monetary authorities quickly counterattacked, targeting speculators by tightening monetary policy and raising interbank interest rates. The HKMA has raised the interest rates on bank loans, forcing banks to return their excess positions, leaving speculators who have borrowed money to sell Hong Kong dollars to buy US dollars in the face of extremely high speculative costs. These coping strategies are simple and effective, so they work in a very short period of time. On August 20, the Hong Kong market returned to calm, and international speculators returned in vain.

However, clouds remain over Hong Kong's financial markets as a whole. Everyone seems to know very well in their hearts that the wolf is finally coming, and this group of fierce, greedy, and fearless international speculators will never stop there without biting Hong Kong. A fight to the death is inevitable.

In the face of the aggressive arrogance of international financial speculators, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region cautiously stated that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has abundant foreign exchange reserves, its economy is growing steadily, and more importantly, it has the support of a powerful motherland behind it. Therefore, the storm will not have a particularly serious impact on Hong Kong.

At the same time, the Hong Kong authorities have taken precautions and launched a two-pronged policy and public opinion offensive to remind these international speculators not to act rashly.

The attitude of Hong Kong's monetary authority is extremely clear: resolutely safeguard the stability of the linked exchange rate system. This is because the decoupling of the exchange rate at this time will only cause Hong Kong people to lose confidence in the Hong Kong dollar overnight. Hong Kong is an export-heavy economy, and the loss of the linked exchange rate will immediately reduce the stability of Hong Kong's external trade, and will cause the stock market and property market to plummet again, interest rates will soar, and the economic environment will deteriorate further, which may not be a blessing for Hong Kong people in the long run.

Before leaving London, the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), who is on a visit to the United Kingdom, stressed that the HKSAR Government is extremely determined to maintain the linked exchange rate. The Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Fiscal Services also met with the media and reiterated that maintaining the linked exchange rate is the top priority for the Hong Kong Government. It is inevitable that interest rates will soar for the sake of this goal. I hope that the people of Hong Kong will be calm and impatient. The Chief Secretary for Administration called on everyone to remain calm, and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce issued a statement in support of the Linked Exchange Rate System, and called on people in the financial market to think calmly and re-examine the fundamentals of Hong Kong's economy to stabilize the market.

Although the speeches and warnings of Hong Kong political leaders have played a certain role, they cannot dispel the fear and anxiety of many Hong Kong citizens who have been put in danger by the financial turmoil in Southeast Asia. It is even more impossible to stop the determination of the international financial predators led by Soros to launch an attack on Hong Kong. There has been news from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority that the Hong Kong dollar futures contract has increased sharply recently, and the position is very high. It has been ascertained that international currency speculators are expected to launch another attack on the Hong Kong dollar in a short period of time, and it is predicted that the funds for this attack on Hong Kong will be as high as a staggering $900 billion, which is dozens of times higher than Hong Kong's foreign exchange reserves.

After receiving this information, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government was also under pressure and did not dare to slack off in the slightest, so it immediately reported the situation to the central government of the capital and applied to the Hong Kong government to intervene in the market at the necessary moment. If the government does not act, the stock market will fall to unreasonable levels due to manipulation, interest rates will remain high, the LERS will continue to be under pressure, and the economic recovery will be far away.

Although the central government was forced by international pressure to directly intervene in the market, it still gave strong support, first of all, it insisted that the renminbi would not depreciate, and sent a team of financial experts to Hong Kong to cooperate and support the Hong Kong government in resolutely resisting the attack of international speculators led by Soros's "quantum fund".

This financial expert group is composed of more than 10 people, and it can be said that it brings together the top elites in the domestic financial circles, including national financial officials such as the vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the director of the monetary policy department of the central bank, as well as well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad. Liu Ningqiang, the leader of the team, is the deputy governor of the central bank.

However, it was not Liu Ningqiang who really led the work, but Ge Hongrui, the deputy team leader.

Ge Hongrui is a well-known financial expert in China, and his public identity is a professor of economics at Peking University, a doctoral supervisor, an academician of the National Academy of Social Sciences, and a vice president of the Financial Research Association. At the same time, Ge Hongrui is also the chief financial officer of the Central Committee and the State Council, enjoys the treatment of vice ministers, and often contributes to the country's economic policies.

The central government's directive to the expert group to go to Hong Kong is to ask them to pay close attention to the financial situation in Hong Kong and, if necessary, join hands with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to fight against international speculators led by the "quantum fund."

The central government has given full support to the Hong Kong SAR Government's response measures, especially its determination to uphold Hong Kong's linked exchange rate system and maintain the stability of Hong Kong's overall situation. But then the chief explained something to the two of them, but the two of them were puzzled, and even a little inexplicably surprised, and they couldn't figure out what was going on.

It turned out that the chief asked the two of them to maintain close contact with Leng Binghan after they went to Hong Kong, share intelligence resources, and even ask Leng Binghan for help when they encountered problems.

It is too abrupt that a major national financial event will be mixed with an outsider who has nothing to do with it. Yes, no matter how cold and cold this is in the Yanei, no matter how favored by the old Wang family, it can't be indiscriminate, let him mix blindly, right? Even if you want to pave the way for him, you can't treat national events as child's play, right?

However, slander is slander, but for the arrangement of the chief and his old man, although Liu Ningqiang and Ge Hongrui have doubts and dissatisfaction, they are not easy to proclaim. What's more, it's not the first time that everyone has seen something like this arranging for their children to gild, but none of the previous ones have been so exaggerated. Of course, who made this cold and cold life good, not only has a powerful father, but also an even more powerful godfather?

As for Leng Binghan's statement that he is mainly responsible for contacting and organizing Hong Kong's private capital, the two of them can't help but scoff a little. Contacting Hong Kong's private capital sounds very simple and relaxing, but in fact it is not simple.

There are many wealthy families in Hong Kong, and the private capital is strong, not to mention the world's No. 1 Feiyuan Company, just the Huo Group, a native of the wealthy family, can mobilize the funds, which is enough to make everyone jaw-dropping. However, these wealthy families, whether in Hong Kong or in the capital, have extremely deep connections, and it is not impossible to get these shopping mall giants to work together to fund the "quantum fund" and international speculators. But in their opinion, such a thing can only be done by a respected old man with such courage.

But this cold and cold, young age, how can he bear such a heavy responsibility? It's not just a name, gilded and meritorious.

Of course, these things are not for them to worry about, in short, no matter what, there will be nothing wrong with doing what the leader tells them, and even if they are wrong, it is the fault of the superiors, and they have nothing to do with themselves.

When the team arrived in Hong Kong, Hong Kong was affected by a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean, and the Meteorological Observatory issued an orange warning signal, which caused heavy rainfall and traffic disruption throughout the city. However, the attention they received on this trip was not affected in the slightest. Reporters from a number of news media around the world in Hong Kong braved the storm to go to the Feiyuan International Hotel in Hong Kong, where the expert group was staying, to report the big news first.

In fact, if the coming financial confrontation were to be likened to a war, the team of experts would be the military headquarters sent by the central government to the forward positions. Although there was no fanfare and publicity in advance, the meaning of the central government's move is naturally self-evident at this extremely sensitive and critical period.

During the same period, Premier Liu, who had just become premier of the State Council in the first half of the year and was known as the hawkish leader of New China, also declared at a press conference: "If Hong Kong is in need, the central government will defend Hong Kong at all costs!" ”

The attitude of the central government has greatly boosted the confidence of Hong Kong people. The dark clouds of the financial crisis that once hung like black clouds over Hong Kong seem to have disappeared for a while.

Seeing the resolute attitude of the Chinese government, international speculators have launched a series of public opinion in the world, including Hong Kong, to attack the Hong Kong government for "administrative intervention in the market" and violation of the rules of the market economy. Some are worried that continuing to attack Hong Kong will provoke retaliation from the Chinese government and Feiyuan, which is too risky and the gains outweigh the losses. Others think that the Hong Kong and Chinese governments are just paper tigers, and didn't the Thai government also swear to defend the Thai baht and make us lose all our money? The result is not that everyone was easily beaten to the ground and plundered at will. Besides, although Feiyuan is powerful, will he really be so irrational and stand on the opposite side of everyone?

And Soros, who was arranging work in the meeting, looked upbeat after answering a phone call, a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he loudly announced to his right-hand men: "Guys, it's time to work!" ”