When you have a tiger by the tail, what can you do? Changing your grip may bring temporary respite, or calamity. Most likely it will make little difference. China's plans to diversify its ever-growing dollar mountain, while vague, are a welcome sign that the country will not try to sustain the unsustainable forever. They are not, however, meaningful steps towards repairing the cracks in the Chinese economy.

China's foreign reserves, the world's largest, are now more than a trillion dollars. They are expected to increase by several hundred billion dollars more over the next year. Small wonder there is so much interest in how they are managed and where they are invested. Much of the money is now in US Treasury bonds, but following this weekend's announcement by Wen Jiabao, China's premier, it may eventually be managed more ambitiously, and by one or more new agencies.