China can't ignore the world's contribution to its rise in last 40 years

The primary drivers of this economic miracle have been the industrious and entrepreneurial Chinese people and the rest of the world

Nobody can know if, when Deng Xiaoping launched his strategy of “Reform and Opening Up” 40 years ago, even he could have predicted the near-miraculous transformation of the Chinese economy that would follow. In the years since then, hundreds of millions have been lifted out of abject poverty and into the ranks of the global middle class; China’s industrial heartland became the workshop of the world; and the People’s Republic has muscled its way into the first rank of global powers.

Yet the tone with which Chinese Communist Party functionaries look back on this performance grates — and for good reason.