China's future is everyone's future

Rest of world needs to reach the same level of understanding to share stability and prosperity

On Aug 11, global financial markets were stunned when the People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced without warning that the yuan would be allowed to find its own market level against the dollar and other major currencies. The yuan, which since 2012 had strengthened against the US dollar, fell by more than 3 percent during the course of several days, before stabilizing.

Financial reporting around the world was full of the event. Most commentators believed that a fall in the yuan's value, which could help promote Chinese exports, displayed the government's desperation to stop the slide in its economy.