FILE: Washington D.C., USA - Oct 2024 (CCTV Video News Agency - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of U.S. Department of Treasury

Beijing, China - Aug 21, 2026 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Liu Baocheng, dean, Center for International Business Ethics, University of International Business and Economics (starting with shot 1/partially overlaid with shots 3-4):
"This is really a warning sign, because it really creates a sort of a spiral effect. It's like a household managing their finance. When they have a larger deficit, they have to buy more. So this is a signal that can really alert more of the global investors, because now when the long term yields are really on the rise and those existing holders of those bonds may feel quite a loss in the real market value. And domestically, the real value of the U.S. dollar may also eat in some of the real purchase power of those domestic consumers."

++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: USA - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Various of U.S. dollar banknotes being printed

FILE: China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of U.S. dollar banknotes going through cash counting machine
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

FILE: New York City, USA - Oct 2024 (CCTV Video News Agency - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Traffic, buildings

FILE: Miami, Florida, USA - 2025 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of consumers in supermarket

FILE: Boston, USA - April 7, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Supermarket goods at cashier

FILE: New York City, USA - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of consumers at cashier desk in store
9. Various of staff member using POS terminal in bar

Beijing, China - Aug 21, 2026 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Liu Baocheng, dean, Center for International Business Ethics, University of International Business and Economics (starting with shots 6-9):
"The issue is that when they really manage all of this, things could really run off the limit, and that's also creates more pressure on the value of the U.S. dollar. And also, it gives more of the stress to existing holders of those bonds for fear of losing their values."

FILE: New York City, USA - Oct 2024 (CCTV Video News Agency - No access Chinese mainland)
11. Various of traffic, buildings

Record high U.S. national debt is driving up borrowing costs, eroding consumer purchasing power and hurting global bondholders, economist Liu Baocheng said.

The U.S. federal government on Tuesday saw its total public debt topping 40 trillion U.S. dollars, according to a Treasury Department report issued on Wednesday.

In an interview with CGTN, Liu, dean of the Center for International Business Ethics at the University of International Business and Economics, said rising debt will push up interest rates, triggering a debt interest feedback loop.

"This is really a warning sign, because it really creates a sort of a spiral effect. It's like a household managing their finance. When they have a larger deficit, they have to buy more. So this is a signal that can really alert more of the global investors, because now when the long term yields are really on the rise and those existing holders of those bonds may feel quite a loss in the real market value. And domestically, the real value of the U.S. dollar may also eat in some of the real purchase power of those domestic consumers," Liu said.

In the long run, Liu believes the investors are likely to rearrange their bonds portfolio to replace the lazy bonds or off-the-run bonds with more accurate ones.

"The issue is that when they really manage all of this, things could really run off the limit, and that's also creates more pressure on the value of the U.S. dollar. And also, it gives more of the stress to existing holders of those bonds for fear of losing their values," he said.