China has the wealth to come to the rescue of the financial markets, but it prefers to focus on its own problems, according to an article on The Telegraph on August 5, 2011.

It seems paradoxical for a country in which hundreds of millions are relatively poor to rescue the West, said the article. But China's rise has fanned expectations that it is ready to become a "responsible stakeholder", in the words of World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and play its full role in helping to steer the world economy to safety.

Yet, it noted, China finds itself in a series of predicaments which limit its ability – or its willingness – to play the global role that should go with its economic weight.

China has its own problems to deal with, said the article. The first is that the effects of the £1.3 trillion program of credit expansion and infrastructure spending program, combined with pressure on food supplies and rising wages, would spawn rampant inflation. The second was that demand for China's exports would fall as the West went into a double-dip recession.

Actually, China is mired "between a rock and a hard place". It wants to ward off inflation, both for economic reasons and to maintain social stability. But it needs export markets to stay vibrant at a time when its import bill is at the mercy of commodity prices. What's more, China is experiencing a transition from an economy that depends too much on exports and on investment in infrastructure and property to one where consumers play a much greater role.