The Chinese economy has battled through, and brushed aside, a succession of local, regional and global crises in the past decade. None of them – the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the bursting of the internet bubble, the US recession and the home-grown Sars virus emergency – has been able to throw the Chinese economy off its stride.

With growth projected to surpass 11 per cent this year, China is looking well positioned to get through the sub-prime crisis now beginning to infect the US economy in particular. Even though China would suffer from any drop in exports as a result of a US slowdown, the fall-out should be manageable.