China has raised the pressure on the US today, warning that time is running out to raise its debt ceiling.
Vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters in Beijing that America needs to take decisive steps to prevent hitting its debt limit in a fortnight's time. The intervention came as European stock markets remained lower, on the seventh day of the US shutdown.
In the Chinese government's first public comments on the deadlock, Zhu also urged Washington politicians to "learn lessons from history". A reminder that the US AAA credit rating was downgraded by S&P two years ago after the last debt ceiling standoff.
Zhu said (quotes via Reuters):
The United States is totally clear about China's concerns about the fiscal cliff.
We ask that the United States earnestly takes steps to resolve in a timely way before October 17 the political [issues] around the debt ceiling and prevent a U.S. debt default to ensure safety of Chinese investments in the United States and the global economic recovery
This is the United States' responsibility.
As the biggest single holder of US debt, China would be in the front line to suffer if Treasury prices fell - and would obviously be hit if the US were to stumble into a technical default.
Credit to the Guardian
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