China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang reportedly made his concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling known to John Kerry on Wednesday night. (FriendsOfEurope/Wikimedia Commons)

The Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang brought up the issue of the possibility of the U.S. defaulting on its debt with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday night, saying that “China is highly concerned with the United States’ debt ceiling issue”, and that they were paying great attention to the matter,  according to a report by the government-run China News Service.

China happens to hold the largest amount of U.S debt, holding about $1.28 trillion in total.

This was the second statement by Chinese government officials during the government shutdown, after the Vice Finance Minister of China Zhu Guangyao was quoted as saying that the Chinese government was "naturally concerned about developments" on October 7.

Meanwhile, the China Daily, a paper run by the Chinese government, published an editorial on Thursday lambasting the Congress' inability to resolve their differences to solve the problem at hand.

"Five years after the start of the global financial meltdown triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, it is pitiful that the US is now putting the fragile global recovery under renewed threat with its mind-boggling political infighting. US politicians can discuss, bicker and argue over government spending and economic growth. Kicking cans is one thing, but throwing caution to the wind is not a course of action worthy of the world's leading economy." the editorial said.

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