China sees opportunity in US recession

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Source: Asia Times

BEIJING - Chinese pundits continue to fret about the gloom and doom scenarios that an imminent United States economic recession might have in store for China's surging economy, but some are beginning to see a silver lining in it too.

"If it was not for the subprime mortgage crisis, China could not have dreamed of pumping money into top Wall Street financial institutions," legal expert Zhu Yiwei wrote in an opinion piece in the Southern Weekend. "But now that China has acquired a 10% stake in Morgan Stanley, there is hope that, through building a network of personal connections on Wall Street, we can work to reduce trade frictions between the two countries."

Indeed, China's infusion of US$5 billion into the financial titan Morgan Stanley in December to help rebuild its capital base has been portrayed by some experts as a successful inroad into the Wall Street fortress that should be used by Beijing to acquire more power to influence opinions in US political backrooms.

The investment in Morgan Stanley is the latest in a series of prominent deal-making abroad the country's new $200 billion sovereign wealth fund - the China Investment Corporation (CIC) - has completed since its inception in May. Both its creation and activities have created a buzz in global financial markets in anticipation that a sizeable sum of money will be channeled into global assets.

Read more: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/JA24Cb01.html

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1. China's red hot economy surges on

Damn, and theoretically they are still Commies, right?

China's economy continued to surge ahead in 2007, recording its fastest growth in 13 years with only a small slowdown in the final quarter of the year, leading officials to warn that overheating remains a danger.

The latest figures released among a slew of economic data on Thursday put growth at 11.4 per cent for 2007 – the fifth year in a row that growth has topped 10 per cent.

The rapid growth comes despite a series of interest rate hikes and other measures aimed at slowing an investment boom that the government worries could soar out of control.

Growth rates did slow slightly in the final quarter to December – dipping to 11.2 per cent from 11.5 per cent in the previous quarter – but that still remains uncomfortably high for the government.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EECAAFE7-634C-4EA8-8A70-30685608BA72.htm

[denverbill]

2. I, for one, welcome our new Chinese overlords! n/t

[LiberalFighter]

3. Reduce trade frictions? You mean wipe out resistance when the Chinese

will be able to hold it over us.

[Tempest]

4. U.S. Debt: $9 trillion, Iraq war costs: $500 billion

Buying America on the cheap: Priceless!

[David__77]

5. I am happy that China is developing so quickly.

It's a force for peace and stability in the world. No, they're far from perfect, but their international contribution is much better than that of certain more powerful countries.

[thunder rising]

6. The Corps and the wealthy have bled us dry ... now selling us to foreign countries