Can it only be 10 years since China's ascension to the World Trade Organisation (WTO)? Only a decade ago, many pundits wondered if China's rise would be conducive to global development and whether Beijing would adhere to international norms?
No one then could have foreseen that China would be asked to help bail out Europe from a financial crisis that threatens nothing less than the future of the euro and the global economy. Yet that is precisely the scenario as the world's richest countries gather in Cannes, France, today for the G20 summit. China, sitting on vast capital reserves while other countries are mired in red ink, has been cast as a potential saviour.
'No one would have thought that Europe would come asking for help from China, as Europe remains strong economically and in terms of its science and research capability,' said Ding Chun, a European affairs expert at Fudan University. Developments last week to resolve the debt crisis reflected a profound change in how China is perceived by other countries. Just hours after European leaders reached a last-minute deal on October 27, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to discuss China's role in helping Europe to resolve the crisis.
Only a day later, Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), was in Beijing for talks with the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China (PBOC) about raising capital for the bailout fund.
Sarkozy added a quick stopover in Beijing to his trip to the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia in August to gain Beijing's support on the G20 agenda and its involvement in handling Libya.
It is striking that European leaders have been coming directly to Beijing for help instead of going through international financial institutions, said Gregory Chin, chairman of the China Research Group at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. 'That is a public display of the shift of the balance of influence,' Chin said. 'The summit will again show that China is becoming even more important in the global economy and a more important actor in international governance in the global economy.'
