Some national investment strategies seem a no-brainer from the outset. Throwing cash at eastern European states such as Poland in the early 1990s, for example, after communism collapsed and the new democratic government threw open the gates to foreign investors.
The same cannot be said for investments in Russia, a country with a chequered history of crisis and collapse, and a unique political minefield for only the bravest of foreign direct investment to navigate.
That, however, does not appear to be deterring the Chinese. A long-term investment play that has been both much promised and much mocked in recent decades has over the past few years matured from hype into substance.