The fifth US-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue was held in Washington earlier this week to discuss bilateral economic issues. The most pressing problem facing the financial market now is the possible impact of the US's tapering of its quantitative easing program later this year.

But history tells us that if the US tightens its monetary policy, this may lead to a global crisis. After the US halted convertibility between the dollar and gold in the Nixon era to stabilize the greenback, countries such as the USSR and Mexico bought massive amounts of US foreign debt. But after the US introduced a tighter monetary policy in 1980s, this drove up interest rates and triggered a debt crisis in USSR and Latin American countries.

History may repeat itself. The turmoil seen at markets in emerging economies over the past two months is a warning bell. As a country with an emerging market, China has to be on guard and not ignore the risks.

The author is Mei Xinyu, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

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