Updated

The U.S.'s biggest foreign creditor, China, says it's concerned about the deadlock in Washington and is urging all efforts to avoid a default.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao on Monday called for concrete measures to raise the debt ceiling before the Oct. 17 deadline and to protect the safety of Chinese investments.

Zhu was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying the U.S., as the world's biggest economy and holder of the global reserve currency, has a responsibility to ensure world economic stability.

He says China hopes the U.S. will address its economic problems, solve the debt ceiling dispute and "keep the recovery process in the U.S. and the world going."

China holds $1.277 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds, the most of any nation after Japan.