China pointed to the debt problems of the United States, which is literally “teetering” on the edge of its own debt limit, responding to criticism from the country’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen over China’s handling of its debt problems, Bloomberg writes.

The criticism came from the Chinese embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, which criticized the U.S. for its “catastrophic debt,” accusing it of “sabotaging” other countries’ efforts to solve their debt problems.

The Treasury Department finally began taking extraordinary measures to meet its obligations after the US government reached its borrowing limit, the Chinese embassy said. That said, diplomats believe that “the biggest contribution the U.S. can make to debt problems outside the country is to act responsibly on monetary policy, deal with its own debt problem, and stop sabotaging other sovereign countries’ efforts to solve their debt problems.”

The U.S. has a few months before it runs out of cash. Around the third quarter, the debt ceiling will have to be raised again to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on payments, which would economically cripple the world’s largest economy.

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, intend to use the deadline as leverage to get the White House and Democrats in Congress to cut spending. That said, the president has no intention of bargaining.

As for China, it has about $870 billion in debt, up from more than $1.3 trillion at the end of 2013. China has become the world’s largest creditor to developing countries, some of which are facing a growing debt crisis. China has been criticized by the U.S. for its lack of participation in global efforts to reduce the debt burden of developing countries.

On Monday, Yellen repeated her remarks about China to Zambia, which became Africa’s first sovereign defaulter in the pandemic era in 2020 and has since struggled to restructure its foreign debt, which has topped $17 billion, more than a third of which is held by Chinese creditors.

In response to her remarks, the Chinese embassy said the best prospect for debt problems outside the U.S. would be for the U.S. Treasury Department to solve the country’s own domestic debt problem.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***