China can be here, there but not everywhere

Economy | Giles Chance

At the recent World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland, China was an underlying theme, not just in sessions with China in their title, such as China Outlook, but in many other discussions about energy, climate change, innovation and global economic growth. Davos 2014 confirmed that China's global role now seems to have gained universal acceptance.

One set of discussions at Davos, in which China featured prominently, was those concerned with global risks. The deterioration since 2012 of China's already difficult relationship with Japan following the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, to a position where neither side seems able to modify its position, is causing widespread alarm around the world.