One does not become an international financial place in a single day. Shanghai is now becoming aware of it. Chinese leaders, facing the collapse of financial markets seem to have trouble finding the right attitude as they are used to be always in control of the situation. But markets do not work like that. However, the way international media rejoice themselves while reporting the fall of the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen and implying against all odds, that the economic and political consequences would weaken the country, is suspect.

(Almost) nobody predicted the Chinese “Thirty Glorious”. Whenever the country ...

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"Where there is a will, there is a way," said the sage Lao Tzu. What does China want today and where does it go? Most of the commentators focus nowadays on the growth slowdown and the impact of the debt accumulated by real estate promoters and local governments on the financial and social stability of the country, which could threaten the global economy. This is not what is at stake.

First, comparing the growth rates over a long period of time is not relevant. In 2005, China had a GDP equivalent to that of France or the UK. Ten years ...

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The publication of the first estimate of Chinese growth for 2014 has been greeted in France with a surprising wave of negative comments: one can read almost everywhere that this would be its lowest level since 1990, people hastily interpret it as the sign of a slowdown, and some even wonder about the risk of a collapse. Coming from a country where we would love to reach 1% in 2015, these observations are cheeky.

It is obviously not the first time that this denial about China’s situation expresses itself. By keeping on predicting that the country would not carry ...

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