"China faces more than angry citizens burning cars. It has carefully saved trillions of dollars so it will be able to interfere in its internal economy if, as happened just over a decade before, it finds itself exposed to the worlds and particular Americas fluctuations and demands.
Chinas leaders cannot go before their people and ask them again to accept hardship, given those people in the large part have endured hardship to create prosperity. And China remains one of the poorest nations in the world. Its leaders cannot ask its people to go without at the very time those people believe they should be enjoying the fruits of their efforts. Yet this is what the US and much of the world is demanding of it."
From a great article "US hasnt dodged the banking bullet yet" by Planet Wall Street's David Hirst at http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/01/14/us-hasnt-dodged-the-banking-bullet-yet/