6 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26 2007 World News Money plot book Chinese buy into gains currency Heavyweights conspiracy theory named for Japan cabinet Rothschilds book become a surprise hit, and is kets but they don’t know being read at senior levels of how to handle the real dan- a hit in Beijing government and business. gers. This book gives them By David Pilling in Tokyo charged with developing a “Some senior heads of some ideas.” new anti-terror law accepta- Best-seller touches companies have been asking The thing that most Yasuo Fukuda named a cabi- ble to the DPJ, whose refusal a nerve on currency me if this is all true,” says shocked him, he says, was net of heavyweights yester- to extend a previous anti- Ha Jiming, the chief econo- his “discovery” that the Fed day in a regrouping of the terror bill was the final nail By Richard McGregor mist of China International is a privately owned and run Liberal Democratic party’s in Mr Abe’s coffin. in Beijing Capital Corp, the largest bank. “I just never imagined old guard after being con- Opposition parties criti- local investment bank. a central bank could be a firmed by parliament as cised the selection as smack- The Battle of Waterloo. The The book also gives private body,” he says. Japan’s prime minister. ing of old-style cabinets deaths of six US presidents. ammunition, however hay- The Fed does describe Mr Fukuda, 71, a consen- before those of Junichiro The rise of Adolf Hitler. The wire, to many in China who itself “as an unusual mix- sus-seeking moderate, must Koizumi, the charismatic deflation of the Japanese argue that Beijing should ture of public and private rebuild his party’s credibil- former prime minister who bubble economy, the 1997-98 resist pressure from the US elements”. While its seven ity rapidly if he is to fend off ignored party factions and Asian financial crisis and and other countries to allow governors are all appointed the challenge of the Demo- often turned to the private even environmental destruc- its currency, the renminbi, by the US president, private cratic Party of Japan and sector. Naoto Kan, deputy tion in the developing world. to appreciate. banks do hold shares in its ‘Whoever controls the issuance of currency establish himself as any- president of the DPJ, said: In a new Chinese best- The book’s publisher, a 12 regional reserve banks. thing but a caretaker “The LDP has turned back seller, Currency Wars, these unit of the state-owned But Mr Song ignores the can control the entire country’ premier. the clock 10 or 20 years.” disparate events spanning CITIC group, said Currency government’s role and system is really controlled by the New The DPJ, which took con- Keiichiro Asao, DPJ two centuries have a single Wars had sold nearly 200,000 argues that the Fed’s key ‘The Fed trol of the weaker upper shadow defence minister, root cause: the control of copies, with an estimated functions are ultimately con- York Bank of Federal Reserve, which is nhattan, chamber in July, is now urged a quick dissolution of money issuance through his- 400,000 extra pirated copies trolled by five private banks, controlled by five banks: Citi, Chase Ma expected to press for an the powerful lower house. tory by the Rothschild bank- in circulation as well. such as Citibank, all of ver and Chemical banks’ early dissolution of parlia- In a sign of Japan’s ing dynasty. Mr Song, an IT consultant which have maintained a Morgan Trust, Hano ment by using its veto to fraught political situation, Even today, claims author and amateur historian who “close relationship” with the ‘George Soros’s secret relationship with the force a political stalemate. the upper house voted for Song Hongbing, the US Fed- has lived in the US since Rothschilds. The LDP has been in a Ichiro Ozawa, head of the eral Reserve remains a pup- 1994 and is now based in Mr Song is defensive about Rothschild circle made him the leader of the state of crisis for much of DPJ, as prime minister – a pet of private banks, which Washington, says his inter- his focus on the Rothschilds, most powerful and secretive financial group in Photo: the past year as minister decision that was overruled also ultimately owe their est was sparked by trying to and what the book depicts as CITIC Publishing after minister quit amid by the LDP-controlled lower allegiance to the ubiquitous uncover what lay behind the their Jewish clannishness. the world’ scandal, culminating in the house. Rothschilds. Asian crisis in 1997. “The Chinese people think sudden resignation this The official ceremony to FT montage of Song Hongbing, excerpts from his book Currency Wars, and the book cover (background) Such an over-arching con- After he began blogging that the Jews are smart and month of Shinzo Abe as confirm the new cabinet was spiracy theory might matter some of his findings, his rich, so we should learn prime minister. delayed to this morning. as little as the many fetid friends suggested he find a from them,” he says. “Even or no concurrent culture of culed in internet postings in which he says had a pro- On Monday, a sickly look- tracts that can still be found publisher for a longer work. me, I think they are really anti-Semitism.” But he adds: China, for exaggerating the found impact on many Chi- ing Mr Abe, who was hospi- in the west about the He professes himself sur- smart, maybe the smartest “This claim, however, plays lingering influence of the nese policymakers. talised for intestinal prob- In and out “gnomes of Zurich” and Wall prised by the book’s success. people on earth.” to the most discredited and Rothschilds and being a Such officials remain lems, apologised to the Nobutaka Machimura, 62, Street’s manipulation of glo- “I never imagined it could Jon Benjamin, chief execu- outmoded canards surround- rewrite of already existing deeply suspicious of advice nation for “creating a politi- chief cabinet secretary. bal finance. be so hot and that top lead- tive of the Board of Deputies ing Jews and their influence. conspiracy theories in the from western countries to cal vacuum” and urged his The head of the LDP's But in China, which is in ers would be reading it,” he of British Jews, says: “The That it should gain currency west. open up the financial system party to unite behind Mr biggest faction, he moves the midst of a lengthy says during a book tour in Chinese have the highest in the world’s most impor- Mr Ha puts the book’s pop- and float the currency. Fukuda. to what many consider the debate about opening its Shanghai. “People in China regard for what they see as tant emerging economy is a ularity down to the decade- “They think it is just a new Last night Mr Fukuda most powerful cabinet financial system under US are nervous about what’s Jewish intellectual and com- great concern.” long stagnation in Japan and way of looting developing said: “We’ll do our best to position after the prime pressure, the book has going on in financial mar- mercial acumen, with little The book has been ridi- the Asian financial crisis, countries,” Mr Ha says. solve one problem at a time. minister. A conservative, By doing so we will gradu- he yesterday spoke of the ally regain people’s trust.” need for unity in order to He reappointed 13 of 19 rebuild public trust. cabinet members. Mr Fukushiro Nukaga, 63, Contracts & Tenders Fukuda, who was backed by finance minister. An eight of nine LDP factions, experienced politician who drew heavily on faction dropped out of the race heads in what looked like an for the premiership and attempt to consolidate his instead backed Mr Fukuda, own authority and present Mr Nukaga continues in an image of competence to a the post to which he was disgruntled electorate. appointed only last month. Nobutaka Machimura, Masahiko Komura, 65, head of the LDP’s biggest foreign minister. He moves faction, was named chief from defence to a position cabinet secretary, one of the he held once before. A most prominent roles. party veteran and lawyer, The new prime minister he was head of a faction failed to persuade Taro Aso, that backed Mr Fukuda for his rival in the race to head the party presidency. His the LDP, to take a cabinet career revived in August slot. Apart from that, his when he was named to selections built heavily on the defence portfolio. Mr Abe’s shortlived second Taro Aso, 66, is out. cabinet, named in August. The former foreign Fukushiro Nukaga stays minister and secretary- at finance, while Hiroko Ota general of LDP scored a remains as economy minis- very respectable 197 votes ter. Masahiko Komura in the party's election to moves from defence to the Mr Fukuda's 330. That foreign portfolio, while makes him a contender Shigeru Ishiba, a defence for the job should Mr expert who held the post pre- Fukuda fail. viously, goes back to his old job. There, he will be Musharraf camp upbeat on court's election ruling Justices' decision to March. Since reinstating Ift- ikhar Chaudhry as chief jus- affect re-election bid tice in July, the court has repeatedly riled the army Crackdown against chief. In August, it ruled that opponents goes on Nawaz Sharif had an “inal- ienable right to return and By Farhan Bokhari remain” in Pakistan, but in Islamabad and failed to prevent the former Jo Johnson in Mumbai prime minister from being deported when he tried to Pakistan’s Supreme Court is return from exile last month.