Onus not binding on China

As expected, Japan confirmed on Monday that China had replaced it as the world's second largest economy. But the confirmation was accompanied by some Western and Japanese media outlets calling for China to share more international responsibilities.

Some Chinese scholars say the West exhorting China to share greater international responsibilities is as bad as the long-existing "China threat theory", which demonizes China.

But for Jin Canrong, professor and vice-dean of the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, the two are different. "The 'China threat theory' assumes that China is an evil country," he says. "But the 'China responsibility theory' is based on the assumption that it is a powerful country."