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A comment on How China accumulated $28T in debt. Parent comment

Re:How China accumulated $28T in debt by barkingcat on Thursday January 28, 2016 @04:22PM (#10991468)
But they can take their army to a delicate border - say with Pakistan, India, and at the straight, and if they ask North Korea nicely maybe they will be able to get to the SK border, and ask for their money back with the PLA standing by.

A holder of government debt can have much sharper knives than a loan shark.

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Re:How China accumulated $28T in debt by vkou on Thursday January 28, 2016 @04:55PM (#10991698)
Confusion between a government holding debt, and a holder of government debt notwithstanding, a state actor can also hijack an airplane and ask for a billion dollars, or they will kill a hostage every 30 minutes.

Or, they can threaten to nuke South Korea if you don't send them food.

As it's not ran by people with the financial and diplomatic acumen of either the Tea Party, or the Kim family, China's not likely to do either.

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Re:How China accumulated $28T in debt by dragonwriter on Thursday January 28, 2016 @04:50PM (#10991653)
> A holder of government debt can have much sharper knives than a loan shark.

Actually, the difference you point to is really with a government holder of debt (regardless of whether the debt is government debt), not with a holder of government debt.

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