Editor’s Note…
Fourth strike ! Looks like all the “coincidence theories” can be put to rest now, as China Dumps A Record $94 Billion In US Treasurys In One Month. All those mysterious explosions must be related.
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If you’re planning on travelling to China, we have two pieces of advice:
  1. Do not look like a short seller
  2. Do not go near any chemical factories
Failing to heed the first tip there could get you thrown in jail (or, as Man Group’s China chief Li Yifei calls it, sent on a “short vacation”).
The consequences of failing to follow the second piece of advice above could be, how should we put this… explosive.
With Beijing still scrambling to contain the fallout (both figuratively and literally) from the devastating blast at Tianjin which killed some 160 people and injured more than 700 last month, the country is on edge. Two additional chemical blasts (both in Shandong) did little to calm China’s frayed nerves and now, a fourth blast, this time in Zhejiang, has been reported. Here’s Reuters:
An explosion shook a chemical plant in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, state media said on Monday, though there were no immediate reports of casualties in a country on edge after blasts killed more than 160 people last month.
The blast caused a fire and thick smoke to bellow from the plant in Lishui city shortly before midnight, state radio said on its official Weibo microblog.
With Tianjin it was sodium cyanide and with Shandong adiponitrile – looking at the visuals below, we can’t help but wonder what’s now being disbursed into the air over Zhejiang.