martes, 8 de octubre de 2013

China and Japan warn US on default - CNBC.com

The rhetoric from US politicians rattled China, with Mr Zhu noting that "the US has a large amount of direct investment in China, and China has a vast number of US Treasury bonds?.?.?.?The US is clearly aware of China's concerns about the financial stalemate [in Washington] and China's request for the US to ensure the safety of Chinese investments."

China held $1.28tn in US Treasuries in July 2013, according to US Treasury data, although the true figure could well be higher than this as China also invests through intermediaries. Advisers to the People's Bank of China, the central bank, have been urging the authorities to diversify the holdings.

"The US is clearly aware of China's concerns about the financial stalemate [in Washington] and China's request for the US to ensure the safety of Chinese investments." Mr Zhu concluded.

(Read more: Could a sharp market move get the debt ceiling raised?)

Later this week, Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, will embark on a three-nation tour of southeast Asia. Coming just after President Xi Jinping's high-profile visit to Indonesia and Mr Obama's decision to pull out of the Apec summit in Bali, Mr Li's tour of Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam will reinforce China's growing engagement with the region.

Mr Zhu said Mr Obama's absence from this week's summit was "something that all other parties didn't want to see [happen]". "We hope that the US can draw lessons from history," Mr Zhu added, noting that a last-minute agreement over the debt ceiling in August 2011 still triggered a downgrade of America's triple A rating by Standard & Poor's.

"As the world's largest economy and an issuer of the world's major reserve currency, it is important that the US take credible steps to address its dispute over the debt ceiling in a timely fashion and avoid a default."

Other bankers and traders in Asia were sanguine about the threat of a US default with several people saying the drama playing out on Capitol Hill was "just political theatre", or in the words of another, a US default "just ain't gonna happen".

"The prevailing view in the market is that someone in Washington will blink and this will all blow over," said a third banker.

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