With both the United States and the European Union (EU) embroiled in unwieldy debt problems, it is time for the whole world to pick up the in-the-same-boat spirit again and ride out the current crises together.
During the past week, worries about the growing public debt loads in the United States and several European countries wiped some 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars off the stock markets worldwide, testifying to the global impact of local financial challenges in today's increasingly globalized world.
Given the mounting economic interdependence among countries, an economically healthy and fiscally sound United States and Europe serve the fundamental interests of the entire international community, including China.
As a major trading partner of both the United States and the EU, China has a sincere hope for an early end to the U.S. and European debt woes.
Meanwhile, the fact that world economic recovery remains fragile in the aftermath of the recent international financial wipeout and economic downturn adds extra urgency to the solution-seeking process and highlights the need for global cooperation.
It is heartening to see that policymakers from the Group of Seven advanced economies have already been on the move to develop a holistic approach to and chart a safe course out of the world-rattling U.S. and European debt troubles.
Encouraging developments also came from the Group of 20, a more representative forum consisting of not only major advanced economies but also critical emerging ones, which should be the premier platform to deal with global financial turmoils of such magnitude.
It is worth noting that despite the recent U.S. debt limit fight and credit downgrade, investors should not let fear and panic take the upper hand. The United States, with its traditional expertise in science, technology and innovation, still boasts one of the most competitive economies in the world.
As a Chinese saying goes, enormous challenges could be turned into opportunities. The United States can implement much-needed structural reforms, regulate the sometimes runaway financial sector and reinforce the foundation for future growth, thus providing a more sustainable basis for global economic development.
The EU, for its part, should take advantage of the collective wisdom of its members to rid the increasingly integrated continent of unbearable debt burdens and realize financial stability and economic growth.
European leaders also need to remain strong-willed to confront the doubts over the euro and do a better job of convincing their fellow citizens that European integration benefits not only the outside world but also the Europeans themselves.
Tumbling stock markets across Asia on Monday are not a good sign for the stalled world economic recovery. But as late U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led the United States out of the Great Depression, once said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Global investors should not allow fear to have its way.
As long as the international community manifests unswerving unity and resolve, and the United States and Europe take responsible and effective measures, the world economy will always find a way out of the woods, no matter how thick the bushes might be this time.