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His first big move as central banker, back in 2005, was to unpeg the yuan from the dollar.

China’s central bank has been gradually weakening the yuan since late last year and has signaled its intention to unpeg the currency from the dollar to make room for it to depreciate further.

Another possibility foreign observers have posited is that the Saudis will be forced to unpeg the riyal from the dollar, although given the potential this would have for uncontrollable knock-on effects on the rest of the economy, this seems likely to be a last resort.

BEIJING—China’s new pledge to unpeg its currency from the U.S. dollar underscores a difficult fact for Beijing: Actions by the U.S.

It is far from clear that China will unpeg its currency from the dollar—something it has said it would do in the past only to retreat.