BEIJING: Even though there are high expectations for China to play a role in relieving the ongoing global economic crisis, analysts have said that Beijing is not ready to take on such a role.
But China may have no choice but to take the lead.
The chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, was in China earlier this week warning that Asian economies are not immune to the European economic turmoil.
She also met Chinese leaders, hoping to seek clarity on whether Beijing will do more to resolve the economic crisis.
But so far, China has been reluctant to reveal or even confirm that it would take measures to support the European market. Beijing has only expressed confidence that the Europeans will find their way out of their temporary difficulties by stabilising their financial markets and pushing for growth and recovery.
And that reluctance, according to a veteran China watcher, is understandable.
"The West feels an urgent need for some help suddenly, curiously from China the former sick man of Asia. They are just not ready, by their own recognition, to step into and play this role. And if they did, I think the West would be suddenly quite unsettled to have China sort of, in any way seeming to reach for, grasp power, even to accept power in new ways, because this is a very delicate historical balance that's starting to shift," said Dr Orville Schell, a veteran China watcher.
Read more at Channel News Asia
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