Talk does not cook rice. Invoking this Chinese proverb last week, George Osborne urged action not words to mitigate a dangerous cocktail of global risks. Britain would play its role, the chancellor of the exchequer said, by keeping its public finances in order.
If Mr Osborne thinks a trite Chinese saying and a commitment to continue existing policy are the most valuable lessons from the current turbulence, he lacks imagination. China’s economic troubles can teach Britain three basic truths about holding a referendum on EU membership in 2016.
The first and most obvious is that no one should underestimate the difficulty of economic transitions. China needs to shift its economic focus from industry to services, from investment to consumption and from exports to domestic sales. The world wants Beijing to succeed but no one is certain it will. Compounded by poor policy communication, consumption has barely risen as a share of gross domestic product, from 49 per cent to 52.5 per cent over the past five years.