The notion that China, even as its international trade was growing, could somehow be “decoupled” from US consumers or the world economy never made sense. Sure enough, Chinese stock markets have shared in the ups and downs of nervous global equities over the past two weeks despite the limited direct exposure of Chinese banks to US subprime home loans.

China’s fast-expanding real economy has also been affected by the global malaise. According to the latest official figures, gross domestic product growth slowed to 11.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2007 as Chinese export growth moderated.