looks like China pulled our card...

It cannot really be argued at this point that with some $700 billion in U.S. Treasurys and the power to send the $USD down the toilet faster than Ben Bernanke at the printing press, China has us by our financial balls.

Psst, President Obama, can I let you in on a little secret? Don't fuck with China.

Bloomberg (via Mortgaged Future) reports on China's Premier Wen warning America that it better not default:

“We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States,” Wen said at a press briefing in Beijing today after the annual meeting of the legislature. “I request the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.”

U.S. President Barack Obama is relying on China to sustain buying of Treasuries as his administration sells record amounts of debt to fund a $787 billion economic-stimulus package. Chinese investors have lost money on the securities so far this year, after increasing their holdings 46 percent to $696 billion in 2008, according to Treasury Department data.

“China’s purchases of American debt have been one of the few bolts keeping the wheels on the global economy,” said Phil Deans, a professor of international affairs at Temple University in Tokyo. “If China stops buying where does Obama’s borrowing to fund his stimulus come from?”

Well that is a simple answer, Dr. Deans. Grab Bernanke and get to the helicopter! But China is already hip to America's Plan B. And don't you think they're watching every move the Fed makes to sniff out even the slightest hint of quantitative easing at the Fed presses?

“China is worried that the U.S. may solve its problems by printing money, which will stoke inflation,” said Zhao Qingming, a Beijing-based analyst at China Construction Bank Corp., the country’s second-biggest lender. “If the U.S. can make sure this won’t happen, then China will continue to invest.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China, while visiting officials in Beijing on Feb. 22, to continue buying U.S. debt, which she called a “safe investment.” She didn’t press China on its foreign-exchange policy, backing away from January comments by Geithner that the Chinese government manipulates its currency to boost exports.

Mmm hmm. The best we could do was send our sadly not-close-to-charming ex First Lady to beg China to gobble up more debt? Slow down, Zimbabwe, or else Uncle Mao is going to cut the purse strings and then what?