The fear is that a failure to contain the crisis would lead to contagion in global financial markets on par with the Lehman Brothers debacle, and deliver a blow not only to the economies of Europe, but also to the United States and other major trading partners.

Such a deterioration would certainly be bad news for China, which could hardly afford to see two of its biggest markets hobbled at the same time.

China has a $3.2 trillion nest egg in foreign reserves, by far the largest hoard of foreign currency in the world, and it needs to find places to park those reserves rather than convert them all to Chinese renminbi, a step that could set off domestic inflation and lead to sharp appreciation in the currency’s value. Europeans know that China is eager to move some of the money out of its vast pile of United States Treasury securities, and they are pushing the Continent’s crisis as a good opportunity to invest on the cheap.

Hours after European leaders unveiled their grand plan, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called President Hu Jintao to say that Europe was still looking for some cash, and lobbied Beijing to play a “major role” in helping Europe get its house in order.

Since the Europe crisis worsened two years ago, regional leaders once wary of China’s influence have rolled out the red carpet in hopes that China might be a savior for their ailing economies. China has already made deals to expand its footprint into choice Western European countries like Italy and Spain. Now, Chinese-owned companies run the biggest shipping port in Greece. They own highways and other crucial infrastructure, and are working to snap up other strategic businesses to anchor their presence on European soil.

But with Europe’s economy verging on its second recession in three years, Chinese officials are wary of taking too big of a risk abroad. China’s own economy is slowing, and there is growing unease about inflation and a property bubble. The income gap between the rich and the poor is widening, posing challenges to the leadership in Beijing.

Chinese citizens have also been venting anger on the Internet about government investments in Europe that have turned out to be anything but profitable, including billions of euros worth of volatile bond holdings from stricken countries like Spain and Greece. And on a per capita basis China is still much poorer than Spain, Greece or Italy, meaning officials in Beijing could face a popular outcry if they poured resources into rescuing European countries or banks.