China and the world in the twenty-first century

In the twenty-first century, China looms large. The events of 9/11 may have put Islamic jihadist groups on the world map in 2001, and shaped America’s War on Terrorism, but at the state level, and within the global economy, China is the big question for the coming century, ‘this time China’s rise is different . . . the sheer scale . . . considerably overshadows anything in the past’ (Waldron 2005: 715). James Kynge sees a ‘tipping point’ (2005: 4) in Spring 2004, when ‘quite suddenly, or so it seemed, China became an issue of daily international importance’ (6). It has remained that way ever since. The past turns into the present, and with it thoughts for the future.