China conducts a missile test in space. The world protests. Beijing shrugs and says it is committed to the demilitarisation of space.

Governments round the world call for an upward revaluation of the renminbi; Hank Paulson will make his third trip to the People's Republic in March to try to get action. But China continues to move at its own leisurely pace and, on the US Treasury secretary's last trip, his formidable interlocutor, Wu Yi, read him a lesson on economic policy.