The Yanks are at it again!

[mzee]

According to the Yanks the Chinese firm installing broadband in NZ should be closely watched as they may be spying on NZ for the Chinese communist party. This coming from the Yanks is a bit much! Its Ok for them to spy on New Zealand, but not Ok for anyone else. Just the same attitude as they have with nuclear power and human rights. Yanks can do anything they like but object to anyone else doing likewise. They better not upset China too much or their overdraft may be cancelled!

[Nick G]

Yanks debt to China is actually pretty small. Can't say I'm too thrilled about the Chinese making all our internet equipment though.

[WalOne]

Yanks debt to China is actually pretty small. Can't say I'm too thrilled about the Chinese making all our internet equipment though.

Let's know when your space ship lands again, Nick. As of only a couple of days ago, US debt to China was running about 48% GDP.

[WalOne]

Let's know when your space ship lands again, Nick. As of only a couple of days ago, US debt to China was running about 48% GDP.

More:

China and U.S. Debt

The largest portion of U.S. debt, 68 cents for every dollar or about $10 trillion, is owned by individual investors, corporations, state and local governments and, yes, even foreign governments such as China that hold Treasury bills, notes and bonds.

Foreign governments hold about 46 percent of all U.S. debt held by the public, more than $4.5 trillion. The largest foreign holder of U.S. debt is China, which owns more about $1.2 trillion in bills, notes and bonds, according to the Treasury.

In total, China owns about 8 percent of publicly held U.S. debt. Of all the holders of U.S. debt China is the third-largest, behind only the Social Security Trust Fund's holdings of nearly $3 trillion and the Federal Reserve's nearly $2 trillion holdings in Treasury investments, purchased as part of its quantitative easing program to boost the economy.
Criticism of China Owning U.S. Debt

To put China's ownership of U.S. debt in perspective, its holding of $1.2 trillion is even larger than the amount owned by American households. U.S. citizens hold only about $959 billion in U.S. debt, according to the Federal Reserve.

Other large foreign holders of U.S. debt include Japan, which owns $912 billion; the United Kingdom, which owns $347 billion; Brazil, which holds $211 billion; Taiwan, which holds $153 billion; and Hong Kong, which owns $122 billion.

[prefect]

Fair call by the yanks, you cant trust the commie chinese at all.

[bk T]

prefect, can we trust the yanks???????????

[R2x1]

Prefect likes fords - can he be trusted?

Chinese internet is fine; we had English cars (with Lucas) for years and we survived that, so nobody's equipment can hurt us now.

[johcar]

Whoever is making the fuss in the US probably has an ulterior motive for trying to stir things up.

Cisco routers are the backbone in the intertubes and have been happily deployed for YEARS all around the world, including the US.

No prizes for guessing where they are made....

[mzee]

Fair call by the yanks, you cant trust the commie chinese at all.

I would trust the Chinese before the Yanks any day!

[Nick G]

Let's know when your space ship lands again, Nick. As of only a couple of days ago, US debt to China was running about 48% GDP.

Well, last I saw anyway, the US national debt is $16,180,964,154,918.59 (see here). Which means China only holds around 13% of US debt. Which, while large, is not a huge number. Whose spaceship?