It’s simple enough. China is vying for superpower-style influence the world over, and Beijing understands that money buys influence — particularly when it’s needed the most. And money is one thing China definitely has right now.

China has said it is willing to bail out debt-ridden countries in the euro zone using its $2.7trillion overseas investment fund.

In a fresh humiliation for Europe, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said it was one of the most important areas for China’s foreign exchange investments.

The country has already approached struggling European countries with financial aid, including offering to buy Greece’s debt in October and promising to buy $4billion of Portuguese government debt.

‘To have any discernible effect China will have to buy a lot more than 5billion euros if they expect to have any impact on the negative sentiment surrounding Europe,’ said Michael Hewson, currency analyst at CMC Markets.

China’s astonishing economic growth has put it on track to overtake America as the world’s economic powerhouse within two years, a recent report claimed.

In response, the United States has continued down a path of fiscal irresponsibility and the creation of more bureaucracy that stifles economic growth — not quite the correct recipe for fending off a rising China that can undercut American prices on just about any product.