China and the global financial crisis

China has come through the global financial and economic crisis in a confident manner. Economic growth is strong and China's foreign policy has become more assertive. Bobo Lo's essay challenges many western assumptions about the rise of China. He argues that the economy is increasingly driven by domestic consumption rather than exports. At the same time, the Communist Party is consolidating its control while avoiding significant political reform. Lo regards friction between a more influential China and the West as inevitable, and concludes that American and European attempts to 'get tough' with Beijing will achieve little.

Bobo Lo was a senior research fellow at the CER (2008-2010).