LONDON -- Suddenly China has become the No. 1 topic on the agenda of every Western policy forum and think tank. That the focus should be so sudden is in a way surprising.

After all, ever since the so-called "opening" of China in 1978 the country has been growing at colossal rates, with income per head multiplying by seven times since then and hundreds of millions being lifted out of poverty. China is now the world's largest consumer of steel, concrete, copper and coal, and catching up on oil as well.

So what are the new factors that have so sharpened Western and wider world interest in what is happening there?