“WHAT you cannot avoid, welcome,” says an old Chinese proverb.
The world would be wise to bear it in mind in its dealings with
China. The country's global integration will have a bigger
impact on the world economy than that of any previous emerging
economy. Fortunately, though, it will be mostly a force for
good, boosting overall prosperity.  China's ascent will affect
the outside world more than Japan's did in its time, not only
because of the potential size of its economy but also because of
two distinct features. First, for such a big economy it is
unusually open to trade and investment. This year the sum of
exports and imports of goods and services is likely to reach 75%
of China's GDP, far more than in other big countries: in
America, Japan, India and Brazil the figure is 30% or less. At
its peak, Japan's trade reached only 32% of its GDP. Similarly,
the stock of total investment in China by foreign firms is
equivalent to 36% of its GDP, compared with 2% in Japan.  The
second feature is that Chinese manu