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Crisis Shall Lead to China

By Alexander Golubov

The statements of Chinese Prime Minister Wēn Jiābǎo sounded after the meeting with the Head of German Government Angela Merkel, should give some optimism regarding the destiny of eurozone. China is ready to proceed investing into state bonds of European countries that have become the victims of debt crisis. The words of Wēn Jiābǎo that the People’s Republic of China shall coordinate its actions with the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, to help the eurozone to «solve the dilemma it has faced», should be the relief for Mrs. Merkel, provided there wouldn’t be one little «no». For the help to become real, European partners should follow some conditions.

And Chinese Prime Minister modestly was silent about these definite conditions.

The debtors need Chinese money as air. And the agreement of Beijing to invest into risky European obligations has significance only regarding the fact that they shall assist the governments of the EU to attract urgent financing. Important is the fact that China believes in viability of the eurozone, and is ready to prove this faith with its investments. Considering that interest rate for European securities, first of all Greece and Spain, keep on breaking the records, and rating agencies only heat the common pessimism with their unpromising estimations, the kind trust is worth a lot. And no matter the «conditions» are, which Wēn Jiābǎo mentioned, Merkel and compatriots, most likely, will have to accept those.

 

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Theoretically China shouldn’t have performed in this case the role of moneylender, trying to force the one who went to the wall to give a serious bail, to give it the possibility in exchange to save itself from a final bankruptcy. Saving of the eurozone is a vital need for Chinese economy survival — from the start of European crisis Chinese has export reduced seriously. For the country which well-being directly depends on the level of its demand abroad, financial disaster in the region, which is one of the main consumers of Chinese goods, means an inevitable collapse also for its economic system.

But, as we may observe, this doesn’t impede Beijing attempting to gain the maximum benefit from grave situations of their main clients. Except for that to lend money for Europeans to buy Chinese goods, the Tianxia is evidently targeted to gain also political benefits from being a creditor. Already now it’s clear that one of the obligatory conditions of this treaty shall be moratorium on critics of human rights and democracy in China. The joint declaration claims that the both parties «underline the significance of legal state and human rights protection», which in reality proves — for some time we will not be able to hear from European leaders about «uncomfortable» names of Bo Xilai and other human rights defenders. For sure Merkel shall never admit that the supremacy of law has been achieved in China, and political system is the reference sample of democracy. But there shall be no critic either. There shall be a «dialogue, aimed at strengthening of legal grounds of functioning of state and human rights observance».
 
 
Translated by EuroDialogueXXI from politcom.ru

05.09.2012