China and the crisis: global power, domestic caution and local initiative

Even though the global crisis had a quick and dramatic impact on Chinese exports, the Chinese government responded with a range of policy responses that have helped maintain high rates of growth. This success has helped propel China to the centre of global politics, accelerating what many perceive to be a power shift from the West to China. But these gains were achieved by reversing policy in previous years designed to make a fundamental shift in China's mode of development and have highlighted the problems associated with making such a transition. At the moment that many are looking at the Chinese ‘model’ as a potential alternative to the Washington Consensus, one of the consequences of the crisis is to further question the long-term efficacy of this ‘model’ in China itself.