You can say this for the Chinese authorities: they know how to think strategically. The stake in Barclays Bank announced on Monday is a masterstroke. The question is whether it should worry the rest of us – and if so, what we can realistically do about it.

In a world grown increasingly twitchy about the rise of sovereign wealth funds, the investment is clever in two respects. First, it consists of an unthreatening minority position. Second, that position is being taken in two jurisdictions – the UK and potentially the Netherlands – that are among the world’s most liberal in terms of foreign ownership. It is now two years since the Chinese authorities tried to mount an outright purchase of the US oil company Unocal. That fell through largely because of US political hostility. Plainly, lessons have been learnt since.