China Warns Washington to Act on Debt Ceiling

When you have a serious debt problem and your biggest creditor gives you a slap upside the head maybe it's a good time to rethink what's not going right at home.

The Chinese government has conveyed a sharp message to Washington - stop acting like children.

Beijing demanded US President Barack Obama take ''concrete measures'' to ensure the US did not default on its debts.

''Safeguarding the debt is of vital importance to the economy of the US and the world,'' China's vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao said. ''This is the United States' responsibility.''

The warning came as the US neared the October 17 deadline by which Congress must vote to lift the ''debt ceiling'', the legal amount of money the country could borrow.

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If the limit was not raised, the US could default on its loans for the first time in history.

Yet, despite dire warnings from economists and the entreaties of foreign governments, Democrats and Republicans stayed gridlocked and the US government closed for a seventh consecutive day.