Yet the refrain is still heard that it doesn't matter very much. The country's economy, say the skeptics, is actually inconsequential compared with such trading powers as Japan or South Korea. China may have nuclear weapons, but its armed forces are archaic, barely able to project power beyond its borders. Ideologically, it is a spent force, no longer a beacon for any nation. But it matters far less than it and most of the West thinks.
China matters about as much as Brazil for the global economy.
Yet, despite all such calculations, China matters - a lot. One reason is a deep-seated drive for greatness that is not so evident in other large developing nations. And after many false starts in recent times, the nation seems to have recaptured its momentum following two decades of economic reform. China, formally a communist state, is now much more plugged into the global trading system than, say, India. Incomes and educational levels are rising rapidly too.