In its first response to the US government shutdown by a senior official, China asked the United States to solve the political impasse and stay solvent to ensure the safety of massive Chinese assets.

Vice-Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao said on Monday that China, the US's biggest creditor, is "as a matter of course concerned about the fiscal cliff in the US", and "it's the US's responsibility" to protect the interest of its creditors.

The US has once again stood on the fiscal cliff, with the US Treasury Department estimating that it will run out of cash unless Congress authorizes it to borrow more before Oct 17. So far, US politicians have yet to make a deal that would give the authorization.