China can never be far from the Davos agenda these days. The Indians, and this year the South Africans, strive to make themselves heard: the Chinese do not have to try.

Wang Yi, China’s new foreign minister, put on a very assertive performance in interview with Joseph Nye, the US political scientist. His country is, he firmly told us, no longer “crossing the river while feeling the stones”. They know exactly where they are going. Responses to questions about Japan and the disputed islands were as firm as they could be without an actual declaration of hostilities. Visiting the shrine to Japanese war dead is morally equivalent to commemorating Nazi casualties. No quarter was given.

But in the financial world the Chinese remain a little more hesitant. Two big issues kept recurring, one international, the other domestic: