Social unrest is Beijing's chief concern in dealing with Evergrande's debt debacle

China Evergrande’s debt crisis has sparked panic-selling on stock markets in Hong Kong and mainland China, with a domino effect on global financial markets. The world is watching, and they want to know how the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will deal with the crisis; whether Evergrande is going to be China's Lehmann Brothers, and how much of a knock-on effect will it have on the investment environment.

The crisis has generated some unprecedented public comments from central banks. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Oct. 6, after investigators contacted Wall Street firms to ask about their exposure, that the Evergrande crisis appears to be confined to China. But he added: "You would worry it would affect global financial conditions through global confidence channels and that kind of thing," Powell said.

His comments came after Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda sought to allay those fears, saying the crisis still appeared confined to a single company. But he said the BOJ would "keep an eye" on developments.

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