They are economic nationalists.  Period.

The chairman of China’s sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday that China had no plans for further investments in Western financial institutions, nor did it have any plans to “save” the world through economic policies.

Every country in the world that developed successfully had a strong dose of economic nationalism.  Including the U.S.  The U.S. developed into the world’s superpower by focusing on developing its own capabilities.  As did Europe during its development.  As did/does Japan.  As did all the Asian Tigers.

The Chinese tried investing internationally.  But got burned.  

The comments by Lou Jiwei, the chairman and chief executive of the China Investment Corporation are the clearest signal yet that after sustaining heavy losses on initial investments in the Blackstone Group, Morgan Stanley and Barclays, state-run Chinese institutions have no appetite for further purchases in this sector.

I’ve been burned, too, in my investments.  I can’t bear to look at my portfolio.  Unfortunately, many in the U.S. has not gotten the message.  They shout "Smoot Hawley", and "trade war," and "protectionism" to prevent policy progress.

So we are still left with the U.S. unilateral free trade theory.  We welcome the cannibalization of our economy with touchy-feely win-win rhetoric.  It will all be better in the long run because our consumer goods will be cheaper, never mind that we don’t have jobs.

Here is a good and sensible maxim by Mr. Jiwei.

“If China can do a good job domestically, that is the best thing it can do for the world,” he said.

He’s right.  We should apply that rule here.  Because the best thing the U.S. can do for the world is to do a good job domestically.

Note however, that they are still likely to engage in third world investment.

He did not rule out overseas investments, however, noting that, “Right now, the value of many investments is underestimated.” But he suggested that China may find some of its best opportunities in low-income countries. “We don’t want to look at only the advanced or developing countries, we also want to look at emerging markets.”