Posted on 03/13/2009 10:11:09 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIJING (Reuters) – Premier Wen Jiabao held out the prospect of extra stimulus spending if needed to hit China's 8 percent growth goal this year and called on Washington to ease worries Beijing has about the safety of its vast U.S. assets.
In his annual news conference ending the nine-day session of China's ceremonial parliament, Wen on Friday reaffirmed China's commitment to keeping the yuan broadly steady and noted that the currency, far from having depreciated, had been rising in value.
Wen, who fielded questions for well over two hours, said the 8 percent growth target was a measure of his government's confidence and a reflection of its commitment to keep raising living standards. But he said the task was not easy.
"I believe that there is indeed some difficulty in reaching this goal. But with effort it is possible," Wen said.
"Only when we have confidence can we have courage and strength, and only when we have courage and strength can we overcome difficulties," the avuncular Wen, 67, said.
The premier said Beijing expected to see results from President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan but expressed concern that massive U.S. deficit spending and near-zero interest rates would erode the value of China's huge U.S. bond holdings.
China is the biggest holder of U.S. government debt and has invested an estimated 70 percent of its $2 trillion stockpile of foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, in dollar assets.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
If they aren’t worried I sure as heck am.
The thread headline bothers me some what,
because the Chinese ‘assets’ is the US Government.
They’re pushing Obama, seeing how far he’ll bend. First the crap with the Impeccable, to which we responded by sending a destroyer. Now a different tack, mumbling about our debt they hold. Obama would do well to ignore them, see if they try to escalate.
China has a better stimulus plan than the U.S.A.
That is just sad.
I wonder if we ever lent them as a country money and if they paid it back; like so many did not.
After meeting Hillary last week, they decided their assets are NOT safe.
I guess you can’t blame them....
http://market-ticker.org/archives/866-So-Whats-This-Market-About.html
Denninger speaks
“China starting to rattle their saber on confidence:
“We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States,” Wen said at a press briefing in Beijing today after the annual meeting of the legislature. “I request the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.”
Uh, what part of being a banker and making loans do you think you’re exempt from? Banking is a tremendously profitable enterprise, provided you’re prudent; if your banking policy is simply “we’ll loan you money to buy our crap” without regard for whether the borrower is overlevered or asset prices are getting totally out of rational relationships to income, then you’re headed for bankruptcy as a bank, because inevitably your borrower will default.
China loved the United States when our citizens were spending more than they made, treating their homes as ATM machines to finance their consumption, lapping up cheap DVD players and widescreen TVs. They were direct enablers of this nonsense by buying securitized paper of all sorts including mortgages, without analyzing the credit-worthiness of those consumers behind that paper. They didn’t do this to help us, they did it to help themselves sell their goods into our market without regard for whether we could afford the level of consumption we were engaged in.
China wants to both have and eat it’s cake - sorry, no can do Wen-do-wu. If they wish to act as a mercantilist without regard to their customer’s ability to pay, pumping cash into our debt without examining what they’re buying and the sustainability of the practices they’re fueling, they deserve to lose money and the correct answer from Obama and company is best expressed with one finger raised erect.
In fact we must stop attempting to spend more than we can afford, both as a government and as individuals. China should be looking square at the sustainability of not only our consumer debt but our government debt as well, and were I Mr. Wen I’d be erecting my middle finger in the direction of Washington DC in terms of purchasing any debt instrument that does not have a demonstrated ability to pay not only the interest but also principal from ongoing cashflow! Since the Federal Budget hasn’t been in that state for a few decades I would not be doing any buying, and in fact would be using the current “panic-driven strength” as an opportunity to sell...”
China, too bad, next time do some research before investing.
“After meeting Hillary last week, they decided their assets are NOT safe.”
Yes, all she did was ask for them to buy more.
But, the Chinese can probably figure out that the Democrats have become Borrow and Spend Republicans, super-sized, so they will have to bail, maybe.
Might be a good thing for us.
The whole discussion on economics is completely blank on the Republican side because to breach the subject would shed doubt on the Cult of Tax Cuts Without Spending Cuts, also known as the Cult of We Will Grow Out Of The Deficit But Forget About the Debt Incurred Before Then.
The problem with American dollars, an hour after you get them, you need some more.
i live in kal. i think i would prefer the commies than the fascists the morons that run this place.
If you’re not worried, you’re not paying attention.
BEIJING – China's premier didn't say it in so many words, but the implied warning to Washington was blunt: Don't devalue the dollar through reckless spending. Premier Wen Jiabao's message is unlikely to be misunderstood at the White House. It is counting on Beijing to help pay for its stimulus package by buying U.S. bonds. China already is Washington's biggest foreign creditor, with an estimated $1 trillion in U.S. government debt. A weaker dollar would erode the value of those assets. "Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried," Wen said at a news conference Friday after the closing of China's annual legislative session. "I would like to call on the United States to honor its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets."
Too late. It's gone baby, its gone. This is the guy you wanted...
The USA has given China carte blanche.
No more except pro forma diplomatic responses to raping Tibet further, backstabbing religous people and suppressing political dissidents.
We want them to buy our paper. Period. End of story.
USG will do everything within its power to ensure the safety of Chinese assets. The Chinese will push, as they did with an attack, however tentative, upon an American vessel to see how far they can push us.
They’re approaching this in a classic Great Power mindset, mindful of spheres of influence and economic enhancement.
I honestly don’t know whether we have a clue as to what we do, except that if the Chinese don’t buy our paper, the US standard of living essentially plunges.
What’s the old PT Barnum saying..
Sucker born every second
or maybe
Chickens.. home.. roost
—
the chinese know about rats and granaries
leading dems here are lucky they live here
and not in China
MEMO TO:
American companies which offshored our manufacturing base.
REGARDING:
Collateral...
You’re about to become collateral. Better start bringing those factories home.
Fast. Or you’ll be repo’d.
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