Beijing is not biting. For now the CCP is asking hard questions about the state of the US economy and exploring long term options for reducing China’s American vulnerabilities.

Chinese sceptics

As Geithner landed in Beijing, the city’s new English daily Global Times published a survey of Chinese financial experts that challenged Geithner’s assurances.

Among the twenty-three economists polled by the Global Times, seventeen said US paper poses great risks to China’s economy. Many of these pessimists feared the United States may transfer its crisis to China by simply printing US dollars. The optimists, in a minority, insisted that when compared with the risks of investing elsewhere, the US paper was still the best bet for China.

On finding a way out, most Chinese experts felt that Beijing ought to expand its investment on tangible and strategic assets such as gold, grain, and oil. They also believed that Chinese enterprises should focus on acquiring valuable companies around the world.

The writer is a Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore