Martin Wolf
Financial Times
March 23, 2011
“Reform and opening up” has been China’s mantra for more than three decades. The result has been not only the emergence of a new economic superpower but of one highly integrated into the world economy. A big question, then, is how China should use its influence. It is one I addressed in a speech at this year’s China Development Forum in Beijing. My argument was that China has achieved greatness and now has responsibility for the global system thrust upon it.
This colossus is now the world’s largest exporter and second largest importer (after the US), unless the European Union is treated as a single unit. It has the world’s largest trade and current account surpluses and owns a third of world currency reserves. Its flow of savings is the world’s biggest. It is the largest importer of many commodities and the price-setter for many products. China’s influence is, in short, both pervasive and growing. Yet it is also a developing country ruled by the Communist party. This is an unprecedented combination.
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