If you have $3.8tn in the bank you should be well insulated from the worst economic shocks. For years, China has been working hard at exporting value goods. It has kept its currency at a competitive rate and built a vast portfolio of reserves. It has claims on many countries – led by the US, but including the UK – that have run balance of payments deficits.
China has been able to export capital at the same time, to acquire the strong positions in the commodities it needs to import to keep its factories turning. Its own investment rate has been extremely high, even by developing country standards. It has sought to leap rapidly from poor country to leading nation.
In the 1990s, when I was writing and talking about China becoming the world’s second-largest economy, there were many doubters. Today, it has arrived. Few question that in due course, given the population, China will become the largest.