On March 22, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bentsen openly admitted: China is the only exception!
Scott Bentsen clearly pointed out a special phenomenon in the global energy trading landscape: when Iranian oil flows to China, the related financial chain enters a "black box," and the United States cannot effectively track it; whereas when this oil is transported to Indonesia, Japan, or South Korea, Washington can closely control its financial flow and final destination.
For U.S. traditional allies or partner countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia, due to their financial systems being highly dependent on dollar settlements and maintaining close intelligence and regulatory cooperation with the United States, once Iranian oil is sold to these countries, the payment path becomes visible. The United States can monitor or block financial flows by freezing accounts, intercepting transfers, or requiring third-party banks to cooperate, ensuring that the revenue generated from these transactions is controlled by the White House, or forcing these countries to resell the oil, cutting off direct financial transfers.
However, the situation changes fundamentally when it comes to China. Bentsen admitted that when oil is sold to China, the money seems to be "washed away," making tracking almost impossible. This is not due to a technological deficiency, but rather because of China's independence in cross-border payment systems.
China has a large-scale RMB cross-border payment system (CIPS), and when dealing with energy trade with sanctioned countries, it often uses currency settlement in local currency or non-dollar channels, building a closed-loop system independent of the SWIFT system.
In this model, the United States' proud long-arm jurisdiction loses its grip, and it cannot monitor or block financial flows as it does with other countries by controlling the dollar clearing nodes.
Bentsen acknowledged that the United States has realized that forcefully wielding the stick of sanctions against China not only fails to work, but may also trigger greater financial turbulence for the United States itself. Therefore, he admitted that China is an "exception," which is, in a way, a pragmatic compromise from the U.S. side in the face of reality. According to your request, I have modified the captions in the image to "U.S. Treasury Secretary Bentsen admits China is the only exception."
Original: toutiao.com/article/1860417053664320/
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