The US Federal Reserve announced last Wednesday that it will continue injecting liquidity into the domestic economy by purchasing long-term US government debt at a monthly rate of $45 billion starting in January, a move which means that a fourth round of quantitative easing (QE4) is just around the corner.

The prospect of a further round of easing has provoked concerns about mounting inflationary pressures and inflows of hot money for China.

Actually, China has little need to worry about further quantitative easing in the US. Recent history shows that, on the global level, the inflationary impact of monetary easing policies adopted by major economies such as the US is quite limited.

Moreover, a continuation of quantitative easing efforts will help protect the US, as well as the rest of the world, if the country should fall off the approaching fiscal cliff.

The author is Mei Xinyu, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.