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Monday, 8 August 2011
Military spending cause of US debt: China
The United States must rethink its huge military outlays, big footprint abroad and summon the courage to defuse debt woes, Chinese state-run media said on Monday, reflecting the political pressures on Beijing with its big stash of dollar assets.
The United States must rethink its huge military outlays, big footprint abroad and summon the courage to defuse debt woes, Chinese state-run media said on Monday, reflecting the political pressures on Beijing with its big stash of dollar assets.
Commentaries in official Chinese media said the economic troubles facing the United States and European Union grew out of the political dysfunctions of the Western democracies and their unsustainable appetite for spending.
Xinhua news agency also linked the weekend US debt downgrade to another Chinese complaint: US military spending, which Beijing sees as aimed at frustrating China’s rise.
“Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States, as the world’s sole superpower, has relied on its powerful military to meddle everywhere in international affairs, advancing hegemonism, and paying no heed to whether the economy can support this,” said a commentary issued by Xinhua, which noted the heavy bills for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Now is the right time for the United States, trapped in economic hardship, to reflect on its domineering thinking and deeds,” said Xinhua, which urged Washington to “change its policies of interference abroad”.
Such media comments do not amount to a definitive response from China’s top leaders, who may tread a more careful public line, knowing that their comments could stoke market alarm and a political backlash in the United States.
Officials have been mute about the blow to Washington after Standard and Poor’s stripped the United States of its top-tier AAA credit rating. But media have decried the potential damage to China’s growth and huge holdings of US treasury assets.
“It must be understood that if the US, Europe and other advanced economies fail to shoulder their responsibility and continue their incessant messing around over selfish interests, this will seriously impede stable development of the global economy,” said a commentary in the People’s Daily newspaper, the chief mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party.
“People have deepening misgivings about the political decisiveness of the Western nations, and this has also seriously hurt global investors’ confidence in world economic recovery, exacerbating market turmoil.”
The comments exposed pressures on policy-makers handling holdings of dollar assets, said Yuan Peng of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a government think tank.
“This will certainly have an adverse impact on China, because it is the biggest foreign owner of US treasury debt, and this will affect the security of that debt, raise more questions about it,” said Yuan, speaking of the downgrade.
“For China, this is a challenge, because it suggests our holdings of US assets aren’t as safe as they were, and the 1/8Chinese3/8 government also needs to explain itself to the people.
“Nowadays, the Chinese government also faces pressure from the media and public opinion.”
China increased its defence budget to 601.1 billion yuan (US$93.5 billion) for this year, up by 12.7 per cent on official spending last year.
The Pentagon in February produced a record base budget for fiscal year next year of US$553 billion, up US$22 billion from the last year level. But the Obama administration is looking at how to trim defence spending.
A separate Xinhua commentary also warned Washington against seeking to boost exports and growth by letting the dollar weaken, a move that would lower the value of Beijing’s holdings of US dollar assets.
China owns the world’s biggest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves at US$3.2 trillion, and is also the biggest foreign buyer of US Treasuries. Analysts estimate about 70 per cent of its reserves are invested in dollar assets, including Treasuries, although the exact investment mix has not been disclosed.
“From this point, the US has every motive to maintain a weak dollar,” said an English-language commentary from Xinhua.
“Before the US makes any move, please remind it: don’t forget your responsibility as the issuer of reserve currency to maintain the stable value of the dollar.”
A weaker dollar could impede global recovery, stoke market turmoil and lift dollar prices of commodities, it said.
Ironically, China’s recent comments questioning the soundness of the US economy could put further pressure on the dollar and in turn hurt the value of China’s dollar investments.
The People’s Daily commentary said the recent turmoil was driven by Washington politics, not economic fundamentals.
“What has been pushed to the edge of the precipice is not the global economy, but Washington politics,” the commentator said.
“Only if the Western nations stop wantonly shirking responsibility and take out a sharp blade of determination and courage to cut through their fetters, strengthening policy coordination with developing countries, then the global economy has hopes of taking a path of stable recovery.”
On Monday, the Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan criticised China over its media criticism of US “debt addiction”, calling the comments unhelpful.
2 comments:
Military spending cause of US debt: China
Reuters in Beijing
08 August 2011
The United States must rethink its huge military outlays, big footprint abroad and summon the courage to defuse debt woes, Chinese state-run media said on Monday, reflecting the political pressures on Beijing with its big stash of dollar assets.
Commentaries in official Chinese media said the economic troubles facing the United States and European Union grew out of the political dysfunctions of the Western democracies and their unsustainable appetite for spending.
Xinhua news agency also linked the weekend US debt downgrade to another Chinese complaint: US military spending, which Beijing sees as aimed at frustrating China’s rise.
“Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States, as the world’s sole superpower, has relied on its powerful military to meddle everywhere in international affairs, advancing hegemonism, and paying no heed to whether the economy can support this,” said a commentary issued by Xinhua, which noted the heavy bills for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Now is the right time for the United States, trapped in economic hardship, to reflect on its domineering thinking and deeds,” said Xinhua, which urged Washington to “change its policies of interference abroad”.
Such media comments do not amount to a definitive response from China’s top leaders, who may tread a more careful public line, knowing that their comments could stoke market alarm and a political backlash in the United States.
Officials have been mute about the blow to Washington after Standard and Poor’s stripped the United States of its top-tier AAA credit rating. But media have decried the potential damage to China’s growth and huge holdings of US treasury assets.
“It must be understood that if the US, Europe and other advanced economies fail to shoulder their responsibility and continue their incessant messing around over selfish interests, this will seriously impede stable development of the global economy,” said a commentary in the People’s Daily newspaper, the chief mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party.
“People have deepening misgivings about the political decisiveness of the Western nations, and this has also seriously hurt global investors’ confidence in world economic recovery, exacerbating market turmoil.”
The comments exposed pressures on policy-makers handling holdings of dollar assets, said Yuan Peng of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a government think tank.
“This will certainly have an adverse impact on China, because it is the biggest foreign owner of US treasury debt, and this will affect the security of that debt, raise more questions about it,” said Yuan, speaking of the downgrade.
“For China, this is a challenge, because it suggests our holdings of US assets aren’t as safe as they were, and the 1/8Chinese3/8 government also needs to explain itself to the people.
“Nowadays, the Chinese government also faces pressure from the media and public opinion.”
China increased its defence budget to 601.1 billion yuan (US$93.5 billion) for this year, up by 12.7 per cent on official spending last year.
The Pentagon in February produced a record base budget for fiscal year next year of US$553 billion, up US$22 billion from the last year level. But the Obama administration is looking at how to trim defence spending.
A separate Xinhua commentary also warned Washington against seeking to boost exports and growth by letting the dollar weaken, a move that would lower the value of Beijing’s holdings of US dollar assets.
China owns the world’s biggest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves at US$3.2 trillion, and is also the biggest foreign buyer of US Treasuries. Analysts estimate about 70 per cent of its reserves are invested in dollar assets, including Treasuries, although the exact investment mix has not been disclosed.
“From this point, the US has every motive to maintain a weak dollar,” said an English-language commentary from Xinhua.
“Before the US makes any move, please remind it: don’t forget your responsibility as the issuer of reserve currency to maintain the stable value of the dollar.”
A weaker dollar could impede global recovery, stoke market turmoil and lift dollar prices of commodities, it said.
Ironically, China’s recent comments questioning the soundness of the US economy could put further pressure on the dollar and in turn hurt the value of China’s dollar investments.
The People’s Daily commentary said the recent turmoil was driven by Washington politics, not economic fundamentals.
“What has been pushed to the edge of the precipice is not the global economy, but Washington politics,” the commentator said.
“Only if the Western nations stop wantonly shirking responsibility and take out a sharp blade of determination and courage to cut through their fetters, strengthening policy coordination with developing countries, then the global economy has hopes of taking a path of stable recovery.”
On Monday, the Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan criticised China over its media criticism of US “debt addiction”, calling the comments unhelpful.
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