It’s more than China’s ‘vital interests’ as over their a loss of public funds from a Greek default could mean heads roll- literally- as there is a history of actual execution for failure and disgrace.
And note the past tense- China had helped by buying their debt.
Also, note the anecdotal signs of weakness, highlighted below:
Headlines:
China President Hu: Global Economic Recovery ‘Slow And Fragile’
China’s ‘vital’ interests at stake over Greek crisis
China Yuan Band Widening Would Have ‘Political’ Meaning Only
Consumer Spending Fades in China Economy After ‘Peak Days’
China economy faces over-tightening risk – government economist
China President Hu: Global Economic Recovery ‘Slow And Fragile’
June 17 (Dow Jones) — Chinese President Hu Jintao said Friday that the global economic recovery is still “slow and fragile” and is threatened by a resurgence of protectionism in various forms.
“There still exist some lagging effects of the financial crisis,” he said at a keynote speech at an investment forum in Russia.
Despite failing to agree on a landmark deal for gas supplies from Siberia, Hu was upbeat on the outlook for bilateral trade with Russia, which is rich in other natural resources crucial to China’s economic development.
Hu said he hopes to raise the level of annual bilateral trade between the two countries to $100 billion by 2015, and $200 billion by 2020, compared with $60 billion in 2010.
In 2009, Russia and China agreed in principle to construct two pipelines that would export natural gas from Siberia to China, but a final agreement has been held up due to persistent differences on gas pricing.
Late Thursday, the two sides failed to reach an agreement during last-minute talks at Gazprom headquarters in Moscow.
China’s ‘vital’ interests at stake over Greek crisis
June 17 (Guardian) — China’s “vital” interests are at stake if Europe cannot resolve its debt crisis, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday as it voiced concern about the economic problems of its biggest trading partner.
At a media briefing ahead of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Europe next week, vice foreign minister Fu Ying made plain that China had tried to help Europe overcome its troubles by buying more European debt and encouraging bilateral trade.
“Whether the European economy can recover and whether some European economies can overcome their hardships and escape crisis, is vitally important for us,” she said.
“China has consistently been quite concerned with the state of the European economy.”
Wen is due to visit Hungary, Britain and Germany late next week, just months after he visited France, Portugal and Spain and offered to help Europe overcome its debt woes.
With Greece on the verge of a debt default, investors will focus on whether China promises to buy even more debt from beleaguered European nations including Greece, and increase its investment in the region.
China is a natural prospective investor in European assets and government debt because it has $3.05 trillion (£1.9tn) in foreign currency reserves, the world’s largest.
With a quarter of the reserves estimated to be invested in euro-denominated assets, it is clearly in Beijing’s interest to help Europe survive its debt turmoil.
“We have supported other countries, especially European countries, in their efforts to surmount the financial crisis,” Fu said. “We have, for example, increased holdings of euro debt and promoted China-European Union trade.”
Beijing has said in the past that it has bought Greek debt, but has never revealed the size of its investment.
Since eurozone debt worries first rippled through markets last year, China has repeatedly said that it has confidence in the single-currency region.
“We have hoped to help eurozone countries in overcoming the crisis, and this is also a measure that is beneficial to China’s own economic development,” Fu said.
But mirroring deteriorating market confidence on Europe, China’s central bank published a report this week saying the economic bloc risked worsening its problems if it did not contain debt levels.