THE minimal interest rate hike in three years on Tuesday is universally said to be "surprising."

That it was deemed "surprising" explains how unlikely our financial decisions are expected to be dictated by mere domestic reality.

China's M2 money supply would account for about 200 percent of its annual GDP by the end of the year, according to Professor Zhou Qiren from Beijing University.

Zhou finds that fact very unusual in an article titled "The Tiger of Money Grows Fast."

The tiger is widely used in China to signify fierceness, rapacity, cruelty.

The message: the excessive money would not vanish by itself, but might be turned loose any time to devour the relatively limited goods or services, as represented by GDP.

Since 2005 the surplus money exceeded one trillion yuan.

"How can such a monstrous glut of money refrain from driving up the commodity prices? If the price remains stable, the tiger of money would roam at large!" Zhou writes.

The export of cheap goods and services leads to deflation outside, and fuels inflation at home.

The government has already been advised to raise its average annual inflation target from 3 to 4 percent, to help ease pressure for yuan appreciation.

Although not all Chinese are so effusive about spectacular GDP growth, every Chinese is paying dearly for the persistently high CPI.

At supper on Monday, my wife pointed to a dish of Chinese yams and observed that when my son was born in 2003, it cost 2.50 yuan (37 US cents today) for 500 grams. A few weeks ago it was over 20 yuan.

But no amount of plaudits and flattering can alleviate the pain and anger felt by China's "mortgage slaves," and those dreaming of being enslaved.

A nation that has ministered so much to the comforts of its trade partners at such sacrifices should expect a few words of consolation from its beneficiaries.

What it actually gets is another salvo of attacks.

It is condemned as a "currency manipulator," a "free rider," and accused of not living up to its commitments as a global power, while the other cash-strapped superpower is groaning under its burden.

In his "Rules for a Frugal Superpower," Professor Michael Mandelbaum argues that the mounting expenses of servicing the growing national debt, combined with myriad other domestic ills, will limit American initiatives abroad.

Zero-sum game

The author believes the straitened circumstances will pose serious threats to global peace and security.

Poor Somalis, Haitians, Bosnians, Afghans, and Iraqis. They have to fend for themselves.

But the lonely superpower still manages to spare some energy to initiate a global game of competitive devaluations. In the words of economist Nouriel Roubini, this is a time "only the weak survive."

In this race to depreciate, not all countries are so advantageously positioned as the US. It can print greenbacks anytime it likes.

Although economist Joseph Stiglitz has said the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing (QE) programs aren't helping the US economy, and the Fed's actions are causing "chaos" worldwide, the programs are likely to be followed by a second round in QE2.

Columnist Sun Yu wrote this Monday in the Wenhui Daily that by starting to print dollars, the QE is effectively reducing American indebtedness, diverting wealth to the US from its debtors.

China is in an awkward position to react, according to Sun, for any move to sell its massive accumulation of dollar assets would further depreciate the dollars, entailing heavier losses.

Other economies similarly worried about appreciation are stemming upward exchange-rate pressure in a similar fashion, in a bid to maintain their export performance.

Of course globally it is a zero-sum game: one country's gain is some other country's loss. But right now every country is busy passing the parcel.

How these massive pains contrast with the fascination that WTO entry and globalization once hold for the Chinese who at that time believed in the WTO's commitment to free trade, respect for laws and justice, and the common good.

When "beggar thy neighbor" is embraced by all, some economies emerge losers.

This global game of irresponsibility is deeply rooted in the capitalist instinct for gain, at whosesoever's losses.

Heavenly order

China's power does not lie in its capacity to consume, nor export, but its belief in universal order.

Contemporary classic scholar Chien Mu pointed out that in the Chinese outlook, there is an extension from the cultivation of the person, to the management of the family, to the administration of the country, and ultimately to ping tianxia (bring about universal peace).

This insight eludes Westerners.

When I was young, whenever I complained of the bad weather, I would be told off by my parents.

To an ancient Chinese, the heavens were more to be feared. Natural disasters were interpreted as warnings, and would induce an emperor to issue a decree of penitence.

To a Western mind, the heavens are part of nature to be conquered.

After squandering nature's bounty bestowed upon them, the West continues to grab, first by wars, then by colonization, and now by "free trade."

In their eyes, the universe is nothing but an inexhaustible source of energy, to be tapped or plundered.

Chien Mu gives an example.

The Great Wall of China is often put down as a symbol of ancient Chinese's closed-door mindset. But only when a nation is content with its territorial limits can it hope to coexist with those nomads north of the Wall.

In the Confucian ideal, everything starts with an individual, and the cultivation of an individual centers on such virtues as restraint, frugality, sincerity, and integrity.

Those qualities are quite alien to modern capitalists who know no limit to their ambitions and hold life to be a relentless striving for more material possessions.

When the earth is threatened with the depletion of its resources, instead of calling for thrift, the government is holding forth on the merits of greed.

One message for China should be clear: only by abandoning the idolatry of GDP can it hope to be weaned from its export-led growth.

China's real strength does not lie in its shining GDP, but in its readiness to take to heart the wisdom of its ancestors.