China has bought much of the United States’ debt to help prevent us from borrowing against the International Monetary Fund or going bankrupt. Now, it seems like another world power is knocking on China’s door with their hands out. The German Prime Minister Angela Merkel visited with the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, according to BBC, for the fifth time to keep up good relations. Merkel claims she went to China merely to put fears to rest about the stability of Germany and Europe as a whole. China buys many products from Germany, which is one of the reasons why Germany has managed to prosper at a faster rate than many of the other European nations. This has led to a very strong alliance between the two countries.

The BBC reports there is a belief in the European countries that China holds about $3.2 trillion in a foreign reserve to be used for potential bailouts of foreign countries. There was no direct statement between Merkel and Wen as to whether or not Germany asked for China to help out the European Union. Merkel did strongly encourage Chinese leaders to help out the EU, claiming that it would be in everyone’s best interest if China decided to help.

However, this claim may have persuaded Wen, because after the meeting between the two, Wen told the press, “China is considering greater involvement in resolving Europe’s debt crisis by participating in the European Financial Stability Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.” The ESM will be launched in July of this year to help the EU pull itself out of debt through different techniques, and is the successor to the European Financial Stability Facility.

The ESM is attempting to set up a 500 billion euro fund to help with potential bailouts in the future, along with setting much stricter trade regulations. If China decides to help out the EU, then the EU might be able to put more money in the fund, or have greater access to the Chinese resources. This is of great interest to all countries, because China is believed to be mining 97 percent of the world’s supply of “rare-earth materials” used for technology, according to BBC. In the economic war, China seems to be holding all the money, all the resources and all the answers.

There aren’t too many problems with China buying up the world. I don’t believe it will affect government policies, but I definitely see a change in the wind regarding economic influences. This could be good for the United States and the EU; America is facing a growing debt with a falling dollar and there aren’t any pills to fix that, and the EU is going bankrupt one country at a time, starting with Greece.

Maybe China buying up European properties could help stabilize Europe and allow the United States to increase exports rather than imports. There isn’t much we can do but hope that China doesn’t acquire boardwalk and park place in this game — otherwise, we might have to completely submit to any of China’s demands.

Since China is considering buying other countries or at least helping them out, the United States might find increased visits and relations to China to be more beneficial. Germany hasn’t suffered from staying on great terms with China; there is no reason why President Obama, or maybe the winner of the election this year, can’t make a few more trips over there. America doesn’t have quite the discretionary fund that China has for foreign bailouts, but I think we could make a bid to help out the EU.

The goal is to prevent China, or any country for that matter, from becoming a monopoly. If China were ever to really reach the point of controlling all the money and all the resources, there isn’t going to be much for the United States and Europe to play with.

Nothing against China — the country is great, the people are friendly and the United States enjoys many of the imports we get from China. However, with that being said, no one country should have an economic monopoly controlling the rest of the world. There are too many pieces in play and too many lives at stake to put one country in control of dividing resources and wealth.

I have previously suggested that the world moves to an economic warfare instead of guns and missiles — in the sense that we should be arguing over who can make a better laptop, cell phone or car. But I did not expect the economic war to involve a country buying another country.

Luckily, for the United States, our debt is so big that it would take every other country in the world, including China, to buy us out. Europe isn’t so fortunate. Time will tell how this all plays out; we can only hope, the world can pull itself out of this recession and start moving forward.