China could purchase large amounts of struggling European debt at bargain prices, taking away a major threat to the euro zone, Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson told CNBC Thursday.
AP
On the assumption that the European Monetary Union will not allow the shared-currency system break up, China can pick up debt from countries like Greece and Ireland "very cheaply" and "that might even be the simple solution to the problem of the euro zone," Ferguson said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Earlier Thursday at WEF, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France and Germany are committed to the euroand those betting against it will lose out.
China is still trying to prevent its currency from appreciating and needs an alternative to the US dollar, he said.
"If the euro didn't exist, China would have to invest it," Ferguson added.
But the sovereign debt crisis and banking crisis in Europe is not "really over," with bad news about Portugal and maybe Spain possible.