By Yulun Hung
China has always been known as a country of savers, where most people save about 25% of their annual income, and only 1 in 10 uses a credit card. With so much of the money saved up, China is the second largest United States creditor with $519 billion.
Recently, the Chinese government urges its citizens to spend more and save less, as the country's exports decrease dramatically. Many of Chinese corporations, whether independent or state-owned, are going on a shopping spree for foreign businesses and gaining control of important resources, such as oil.
One country where China falls short of investing is the United States, and with good reasons. Many of "Beijing's conservatism stems from the fact that the global credit crisis has walloped the value of the Chinese government's initial batch of investments in U.S. financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley and Blackstone Group" (Gomez, 2008). Also, "many Chinese investors are still stung by the memory of China National Offshore Oil's 2005 attempt to buy a stake in the U.S. energy company Unocal. The deal fell apart after U.S. lawmakers expressed concern about the national security implications of China controlling some of the country's oil resources" (Juan, 2009).
Sources:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/worldviews/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=31352
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/264014/china_wants_folks_to_save_less_spend_more/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031603293_2.html
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