From The Observer, Heather Stewart wrote:
‘China is a sleeping giant. And when she awakes, she shall astonish the world.’ The truth of Napoleon’s warning, made more than two centuries ago, is beginning to resonate in the world’s richest nations. When oil prices shot up above $50 a barrel earlier this year, it was the latest signal that, finally, China is living up to its potential as one of the world’s great economic powers: when Beijing and Shanghai put their foot on the gas, the effects ripple throughout the global economy.
But taking a bigger part in the world economy has its price. China, the world’s last great communist state, which has gradually evolved its own version of capitalism, is facing unprecedented pressure from the US and Europe to play by their rules, and float its currency, the renminbi, on the foreign exchange markets.
The full article is here.
