If there are winners from the financial crisis, many of them are, by common consent, in Asia. With the US economy punctured by Wall Street, China is widely perceived to be the global top dog designate. On this view, not only has the geopolitical balance shifted eastwards but portfolio flows will follow suit. Welcome to the new investment reality.

As with most conventional wisdom there is a modicum of truth in it. China’s fiscal position is remarkably strong relative to the West and its recovery has been astonishingly rapid. The region more generally has been spared the horrors of the banking crisis, having gone through financial fire in 1997-98.