Did Sarkozy Get China to Become the EU’s Lender of Last Resort?

After the euro-region summit ended, French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly spoke to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in an effort “to mobilize support for the massive rescue fund hammered out during the summit,” according to Wall Street Cheat Sheet.

The summit ended with an agreement to boost the European Financial Stability Facility to about $1.4 trillion.

Sarkozy approaching the Chinese precedes a Group of 20 summit he will host next week, with Europeans seeking to increase the role of the IMF in dealing with the eurozone’s financial crisis.

Australia’s finance chief said that while it’s “appropriate” to look at the IMF’s resources, Europeans must look to themselves first for bailout money, according Bloomberg.

According to reports by the state-owned China Central Television, Hu hopes the measures will help to stabilize markets.

“The Europeans have their back against the wall and China is the lender of last resort,” said Patrick Bennett, a strategist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Hong Kong. According to the statement issued by the French president’s office, Sarkozy and Hu “agreed to cooperate closely to ensure the G20 can make a decisive contribution to ensure growth and global stability.”

Japan  is also awaiting on calls for help from the eurozone. In the words of Laurie Danas of Wall Street Cheat Sheet, “Apparently, the globalized economy is heavily interdependent and every major country is held equally hostage to Europe’s needs.”