Did they do it with financial services??

Massive debt equals obligations. Will all criticism of China now cease? That's the least we can expect. The only certain thing is that China WILL use it's power to circumscribe our actions. Is it significant that Sarkozy is in the van on this one? France in the past has shown little moral scruple in the financial or trading world, and will probably underweigh the peripheral political and moral implications of any such buy-out...

I dont blame them for being very cautious. If Britain were China with burgeoning reserves ,we would be shelling it out like confectionery. It is only because Britain is skint that prevents Grand standing Politicians from giving away our money. All these Euro Countries who have lived off the fat will have to now face the music, Sarkosy going to China is an indication that the Bill is too big for the reluctant Germans with their dodgy capitalised Banks I forecast The Euro will break up eventually even if the Chinese step in to protect it. It is an unsustainable entity, and the Chinese know that.,hence their preference for Gold.

I think you are wrong Graham, somehow the Euro will survive. The UK has been profligate for years ( particularly under the last Govt ) and we've all become too accustomed to living on debt . This attitude has to change and thus some asset prices must fall.If the Euro, as a currency, collapses you might find that your living standards have to be adjusted by about 30% , maybe more for a year or two, or more. I never wanted the Euro but now it's there it is inconceivable how it could be got rid of without mayhem in the financial markets- that will affect everything in all our lives and put thousands out of work here and Europe, and many elsewhere i.e. economic collapse and total lack of confidence - the most critical word when anyone considers investing.Without confidence all economic activity grinds to a halt. Is your allotment ready for planting next Spring?

I have said many times before that sometime China will be calling the shots, and now that day has arrived. The West is bust, but our stupid politicians won't accept it. Western democracy is creaking badly, and I believe eventually it will be broken. China has the resources, the work ethic, the determination and the belief that they should invest in success and not, like the West in failure (social wlefare) to ensure they will always succeed. Well done to them (I am not Chinese just someone who has visited China and worked with Chinese people). The clock is still ticking on the decline of western eceonomies, unless really radical action is taken.

How many noughts are there please?

Would it not be simpler just to put 2 x 10 to the power 12 etc. eg 10³ or whatever!

Does it never occur to our political elite that one of the main reasons for the current economic situation is that we have progressively sent vast amounts of our wealth to China, India and the Middle East to pay for our ongoing consumerism.

Our currency will subsequently require to be used to purchase our land, property and companies under the guise of 'free world trade'.

Harold McMillan famously refered to "selling off the family silver". Well, sorry but thats all gone and the bricks and mortar are fast going too. It's currently 'open door' for anyone to come and buy up the country. Maybe when the Chinese decide to take Hawaii or Alaska in exchange for their American IOUs might somebody in 'authority' waken up and start to think.

This current financial imbalance could easily be the trigger for another world war. Who has the biggest population?

We in the West must either (re)learn to make our own consumables and at the same time become more competetive (and yes that will mean a lower standard of living for all) or we greatly reduce the vast shipments of imports which daily flood into this country.

The last thing we need is to have China taking stakes in our Banks or other institutions.

I think we all know the reason China wishes to help the West.

Nicholas Pritchard

You mean that they don't want their best customers to go bust?

You lot have got short memories. In the 1970s electrical appliances were deemed to be luxury items and had a VAT rate of 25% applied to them. In reality fridges and washing machines weren't luxuries at all, but they were all manufactured abroad - so what was called a luxury tax was actually an import surcharge. I'm sure HMRC are ingenious enough to come up with something similar nowadays.

Successive governments of the PRC ,are merely following the master plan for the latter to become the most powerful nation in the world both economically and militarily and there is no one who can stop this cyclical rise and fall of empires

China, with it''s 1.5bn people, is certainly not going to risk achieving it's ultimate goal for a mere 300m people led by a morally and legally corrupt organisation, that has never had its 'books ' audited in order to account for it's multi billion euros budget . How many of its MEP have been sent to prisonn for fraudulently claiming expenses to which he/she was not entitled .

Yes, China has its share of criminals, but those who are caught do not get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again, before being set free. Unlike the UK, China does not have (even on a pro rata basis) 4000 convicted foreigners criminals(many of them murderers and rapists) walking its streets(with a further 1000 in jail) who cannot be deported for fear of infringeing their human rights. In return for any monies China agrees to invest in propping up the EU, it will want to exact its full pound of flesh.

Excellent comment, Graham D-C, but do not write "it's" when you mean "its".

100% agree with Graham. The best decision I ever made was leaving the UK and re-locating to China, I have lived and worked all over the world, this is the best and safest place in the world.

Criminals here tend to have short lifespans, if the authorities catch them first they do net re-offend after a spell of hard graft in a prison coal mine, if the locals catch them first they can't re-offend. Recently 250 taxi drivers joined forces to chase a bag snatcher across town and beat him to death.

I do take it Bob Woodhouse was intending the irony in saying "China is the best and safest place in the world" and then describing how a mob of taxi drivers beat someone to death just for stealing a bag . . . . .

Hello Maverick,

The good guys here are safe, the bad guys are dealt with severely, unlike the UK where they have their wrist slapped before being let loose to continue their crime wave. My point is: serial re-offenders do not exist here, they are removed from society so as to leave behind a safer place for the rest of us to live.

Hello again Maverick,

Perhaps I omitted to explain the bag snatcher inflicted serious injury to an old lady.

"Beaten by a mob of taxi drivers just for stealing a bag" your comment sounds like you consider the mugger to be the victim!!!