FinanceAsia found itself asking the IT department an unusual question this week: "Are Chinese cyber-agents rigging our online poll?" Last week, we asked our readers what they thought about China's new currency flexibility and whether it would be sufficient to keep American politicians at bay. The early voting was close. Some readers thought it would not be sufficient, while others thought it was a bit more complicated -- it might keep Timothy Geithner at arm's length, but not necessarily for long. Nobody voted Yes. At least, not until last Wednesday, when almost all of the Yes votes we received all week arrived in the space of a few minutes from a range of IP addresses that suggests a location somewhere in Mongolia. Or Costa Rica, we're not exactly sure.
Our IT department told us that this kind of thing happens all the time and that all we needed to do was re-boot the internet. So, if you see some flickering on your screen, do not adjust your set. It's just the internet re-starting.
For the record, the final voting ended up with a storming majority of 64% in the Yes camp, with the remainder split 20% for No and 16% saying it's complicated. A surprising result, to be sure.
If we can take anything from this vote (and we almost certainly cannot), it might be that the Chinese government is using FinanceAsia to subtly tip a nod to the market. In which case, make of it what you will.
Photo provided by AFP.
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