“China joined the World Trade Organisation only in 2001. It is having a bigger global impact than other emerging economies because of its vast size and its unusual openness to trade and investment with the rest of the world. The sum of China's total exports and imports amounts to around 70% of its GDP, against only 25-30% in India or America. By next year, China is likely to account for 10% of world trade, up from 4% in 2000. What is also new is that the internet has made it possible radically to reorganise production across borders. Thanks to information technology, many once non-tradable services, such as accounting, can be provided from afar, exposing more sectors in the developed world to competition from India and elsewhere. Faster growth that lifts the living standards of hundreds of millions of people in poor countries should be a cause for celebration. Instead, many bosses, workers and politicians in the rich world are quaking in their boots as output and jobs shift to low-wage economies in Asia or eastern Europe. Yet on balance, rich countries should gain from poorer ones getting richer. The success of the emerging economies will boost both global demand and supply.” The Economist