China: Giving a hand to rescue U.S?

The sweeping financial crisis that strikes U.S has brought a debate in the country and its congress whether the government should intervene and rescue the Wall Street, or even the entire economy. And It is not the only country pondering on a rescue plan.

Right in a recent interview by CNN, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao appealed for giving States a hand:

So this time we should join hands and meet the crisis together. If the financial and economic system in the United States go wrong, then the impact will be felt, not only in this country but also in China, in Asia and in the world at large.

Wen talked so with a certain reason, as blogger 百草止水 posted on discussion board Tianya.cn in a entry named “should China rescue U.S?” ; 中国到底该不该拯救美国;?

在这个世界上,美国是唯一牵一发而动全身的国家,不仅因为它是独一无二的超级大国,还因为它是全球最大的消费市场。你可以不从美国进口商品,但无法不向美国出口,如果这个消费市场停摆了,全球经济将无一幸免地跟着遭殃。

In this world, U.S i s the only state that may influence the entire world, not just that it’s the only super power, but that it owns th e largest consumption market all over the world. You can stop importing goods from U.S, but c an by no means ceas e exportin g to it. If such a market stagnates, the global economy has no way to avoid a disaster.new 911

The plane named “subprime mortgage crisis” is running into “Dollar status” and “foreign debt”, illustrated by unknown netizen.

Besides the States’ significant influence over global market, more importantly, China is the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bills, and also maintained a strong trade tie with US where is the country’s major destination of export(21% of total). With its GDP’s reliance on export, the determination of China to help rescue U.S from another disastrous depression could be reasonable.

As Wen Jiabao said in the interview,

The U.S. finance is closely connected with the Chinese finance. If anything goes wrong in the U.S. financial sector, we are anxious about the safety and security of Chinese capital.

But does the situation allow China to rescue U.S?

Above all, the prospect of U.S economy is in deep uncertainty. No one could imagine how much the crisis that has destructed Bear Stern and Lehman Brothers is going to wreck anymore.

百草止水 pointed out that the crisis is rooted in the States’ inherent economic system, that

美国经济对金融产业的依赖很强:第一,美国以两亿多人口占据世界第一消费市场,不是因为美国世界最富,而是美国流行“寅吃卯粮”的消费文化,也就是说美国人习惯于拿明天的钱用于今天的享受。

The U.S economy relied strongly on financial industry, being used to consuming on today with the money might be earned tomorrow, as determined by their consumerism culture.

Thus, the consequence could be

第一,美国人更加不敢将钱存入银行
第二,金融企业的不 景气会使其发行的债券无人问津,而且已发行的债券也可能成为白纸一张,华尔街的融资能力剧烈受挫,美国经济的前景更加堪虑。第三,美国银行的存款锐减,金 融企业的债券不再受欢迎,也就越来越无钱用于放贷和投资,缺乏了银行支持的消费市场便进一步萎缩,不仅美国经济陷入衰退,全球经济也会一片混乱。
第五,美国经济出现全面危机,美元更加疯狂地贬值,美元的世界货币地位彻底终结……
第六,美元的剧烈贬值将会使美国债券尤其是国债的持有人高度受损,作为美国国债的第一第二持有者的日本和中国将首当其冲。
第七,为转嫁危机,包括美国在内的世界各主要国家就会穷兵黩武,一场新的世界大战在所难免,核武器可能首次大规模使用,人类可能遭到灭绝。这不是百草止水危言耸听,1931年的欧洲金融危机就是这样子的,那场危 机成了第二次世界大战的导火索。

1. Americans dare not put money in the banks.
2. The downfall of financial industry would drive people away from the bonds Wall Street issued, thus its financing capability would be very much undermined…
5. the dollars are going to devalue so that its status as a global currency would come to an end.
6. as the largest and second holders of U.S. Treasury bills, Japan and China would be marred due to the slumping dollar value
7. Major nations in the world might endeavor to displace their crisis by the method of war, and a new world war with the massive use of nuclear weapons is inevitable…..

At the end of his article, the blogger posted a critical question

要知道,中国手里的外汇储备世界第一,在美国金融危机当中,中国有能力发挥积极作用。问题是美国一直在积极遏制和围堵中国,甚至一再阻扰中国的统一进程,对这样的国家我们需要以德报怨吗?

We should know that China could play a positive role in the crisis as the largest holder of dollar reserve. The problem is, since U.S has long been giving troubles to China and trying to impede the reunification of China. Should we pay back the bad with good?

In 2 pages of comments followed, firespace1 scorned

支持楼主拿工资去救美国

I support you to rescue U.S with your salary.

7758521wan said:

你真是个牛人啊,据然想起来承救美国,他妈的你才吃饱饭几天啊,现在就出来救人,真是有种,你是真的有钱就到大街上去救几个同胞不是更好吗……我为你感到悲唉啊.

You are such an amazing man that is going to save America! No f**king a few days since you have enough to stuff your stomach! if you have money you had better go out to the street and accommodate a few more countrymen. Isn’t that better? ……Shame on you.

Accordingly, maybe people should ask “do we have the power to save America”.

零时三刻1970 said:

中国也没那能力去救美国
不落井下石抛国债已经是最大程度的支持了

China has no power to give U.S a hand. It’s been the greatest support not to take its advantage to sell the treasury bills.

But 推拖拉机的浣熊 thought the other way,

说楼主脑残的脑瘫患者.看不懂就闭嘴.别再那乱扣帽子.如果美国危机持续下去.最多十个月,国内经济必然失控.从金融开始到房地产后工业.国人到时不知多少人要自杀.

Shut up those abuse the blogger. If the crisis keeps going, up to 10 months our domestic economy would be out of control, from financial to real estate industries. I can’t tell then how many Chinese would kill themselves.

EileenZ rebuked:

照楼主的说法,美国永远都不能倒下,全世界都应该用本国的力量去支持美国的强大,这样他才能不停的用别人的钱去消费,给其他国家带来订单?
这样的逻辑,真的很糟糕,就像你不停的给钱别人来买你的东西一样,而这个人最终不会付清它的债务,因为他自己没有钱,所有的钱都是借来得。

So as you guys say, America should never fall, and the entire world ought to uphold the power of U.S so that it can spend others’ money to pay and order goods from other countries.

讨厌猫的男人 seconds, giving an analogy

中国好比就是给美国打工,然在老板说我没钱了,公司要倒了.打工的说不能倒啊,倒了我没饭吃了,老板说那就你借点钱给我继续开公司,你也可以继续为我打工.楼猪这叫什么逻辑

China is like working for U.S, a boss who someday says he has run out of money, the company going to collapse. However, China says,”No, you can't fall, or I will be starving without a job.” Then the boss says,” OK, then please lend me some money, so that I can keep the company, and you can keep working for me.” What a logic!

That might be why insins said:

要救,但要乘机提条件 为什么要救?美国是中国的最大出口市场,他衰退,中国也要损失惨重。
提条件虽然不厚道,但跟美国人提不要心怀不安,他们对我们一直如此的,我们可以在台湾问题,西藏等问题提条件,多好的筹码啊

Yes, we should help it. But it should be conditional. Though it’s not moral to bargain that way, we don’t have to feel guilty to do so with Americans, since that’s the way they treated us. We can bargain on Taiwan and Tibet issues. What good chips!

More than the unwillingness to give a hand, there are voices criticizing U.S is trying to transfer his financial burden to all the rest of the world, nothing different with a rogue state's action.

In another discussion board, IronBlood, 大大跑 said

美国金融破产与97年国企业改革之初有的企业采用破产方法甩债另立公司都是为了破壳逃债,不过本质不同的是:美国是破外国债权,美国实际资产一点也没少……对这样不讲信誉赖掉他国债务的国家,为什么还要进行投资救市

The financial bankruptcy, quite the same as Chinese enterprise reform in 1997, is to rid of its financial burden. But they are inherently different, that U.S is going to rid of the debt he owed to the world, with its actual capital unaffected. Do we have to save such a country without any credit?

On the one hand, China fears the financial crisis would not only involve the States itself, but destroy the global market and economic order as well; while on the other hand, it is thrilled by the significant chance, as the States might have during the World War 2, that along with the shift on power map, China would escalate to a status of super power.

大大跑's comment is exactly the expression of this ambition:

中国老百姓不同意政府参与美国救市,一是美国金融破产信誉让中国损失严重;二是国际上不应以美元做为单一世界货币绑架世界经济;三是世界上需要经济重新洗 牌规避类似美国大举破产逃债经济事故。有的网友说“美国的经济危机就是世界经济权益的一次再分配,中国务必做好重建新秩序的各项准备”

Chinese people refused to let their government to help rescue the U.S market. Firstly, China has suffered a lot in U.S financial bankruptcy; Second, dollar should no more be the single world currency we have, and stop kidnapping the global economy with such a status. Third, the world economy is in need of a reshuffle, to evade any likewise debt-shirking behavior in the future. As netizens say:
the economic crisis this time is a redistribution of the economic powers in the world; China, has to be prepared for the restoration of a new order.

7 comments

  • roy

    China wanting or not will end up helping the americans. If not the whole world including them will suffer…

  • Its a crisis… I think the loosers will be those asian countries who have the majority portion of the outsourcd works with them.

  • carne

    China is too intertwined with the American economy to stand on the sideline. it isn’t a question of \should\; it is a must. early posts on this site talked about the fact that much of China’s foreign owned debt centered in companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is one of those moments when our economic symbiosis will show up rather clearly. as Niall Fergusen put it is a recent Time article, it may be time to start referring to the two countries as \Chimerica.\ It isnt a question of friendliness either – pure self-interest.

  • Bob

    So China has no way to take an advantage or approach a super-power status from this crisis as U.S did in WW2 when Europe was going through a disaster, for we are too involved….
    But what’s the consequence of giving the hand? More deeply involved. A deadlock.

  • […] a Chinese blogsite called Global Voices, here is their assessment concerning the dollar situation and the current financial […]

  • Jenna Major

    To understand how unnatural this situation is, remember that China is
    (or was) a poor country continuously lending huge sums of money to a
    rich country (or at least we were). Or to put it another way, they are
    an undeveloped country investing capital in a fully developed country.
    This shouldn’t be happening. It is the international finance equivalent
    of water running uphill; someone must be pumping it. Lawyer San Antonio

  • Rachel Page

    In Obama’s words: So far China’s partnership has proved critical in our effort to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations.

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