...8% is not even enough to do us any lasting damage.
And they can't just "CALL IN" the debt anytime they want.
A debt is a contract with explicit terms agreed to by both parties. As with most debts, U.S. treasury bonds (which is the U.S. debt that China holds) cannot simply be "called" by the creditor prior to the bonds' expiration dates any more than someone's mortgage or car loan can be called before it's due. Debts cannot just be arbitrarily called in at any time unless the debtor defaults on payments.
Treasury bonds are sold with a given maturity (for example, a date 5 years, 10 years, or 30 years after issue). Upon maturity, the government redeems those bonds for the face amount. In the meantime, the government pays cash interest payments (the "coupon"
on a regular basis. China depends on those interest payments as much as we depend on them buying our debt, maybe more.
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