"Ever since the start of the trade war between America and China, investors, politicians and businesses have been trying to gauge how far and how fast the world's two biggest economies will decouple from each other. The pattern in finance is becoming clearer with the news that Didi Global, a Chinese ride-hailing firm, plans to delist its shares from New York, just six months after an initial public offering (ipo) there.

It is likely that all the $2.1trn of other mainland Chinese firms' shares traded in the Big Apple will eventually follow suit, with the approval of the Chinese Communist Party. Yet do not imagine that China's rulers seek financial isolation. For at the same time, they are busy welcoming Wall Street firms into the mainland's financial system. China is pursuing a strategy of asymmetric decoupling: reducing its dependence on the West even as it seeks to increase the West's dependence on China. Didi will not be the last example of this approach."

The Economist, China courts global capital, on its own terms, December 11, 2021

1. What are the benefits and risks to companies and investors of borrowing in the global capital market?
2. Many observers believe that the largely unregulated nature of global banking activity leaves the world financial system vulnerable to bank failure on a massive scale. Is this a real threat? If so, what measures have governments taken to reduce it?
3. For decades China's government tolerated and sometimes encouraged companies to raise capital in distant markets. Why has the mood shifted in the last couple of years?