But Vincent Sabathier of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, says China is being careful not to rile America by talking of a space race.

ECONOMIST: China launches a rocket and aims for the moon

One big change, says Doug Paal, a senior China adviser to previous American presidents and now at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, DC, is that the growth of the internet generation in China nowadays requires its government to heed the strong nationalist sentiment of its own people.

ECONOMIST: America and China

For all the talk of competition, politicians in Brussels and Frankfurt should be praying for growth in America just as their peers in Washington, DC, should be pleased to hear about China's nouveaux riches ordering German cars and French claret.

ECONOMIST: The world economy

"I think the government is very concerned about the unrest spreading and causing further disruptions, " says Drew Thompson, a China expert at the Nixon Center in Washington DC.

CNN: China grapples with growing labor discontent