The pound sterling and the dollar, the principal international and reserve currencies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively, were issued by democracies. Britain and the US had contested elections and political systems that limited the arbitrary exercise of executive power – institutions that are absent in China’s political system.
分别作为19世纪和20世纪主要国际储备货币的英镑和美元都是由民主国家发行的。英国和美国都拥有竞争性选举以及限制滥用行政权力的政治体制——但这些东西在中国的政治制度中是缺失的。