In the ongoing U.S.-Chinese financial war, Beijing has focused on insulating China’s strategic trade from dollar-based financial sanctions. This objective has animated the growing push for China-Saudi renminbi settlement . It has also accelerated Chinese efforts to deepen ties with crude oil suppliers inclined to buck the West. One of the most effective and longstanding means of financial “de-risking,” however, has been the Chinese central bank’s steady shedding of its official U.S. dollar