Provisional GDP growth data for 2009 suggests that China may well have overhauled Japan into second place in the global economy in 2009.

While Japan is expected to have suffered a decline of as much as 6.6% in its economic output in 2009, according to the Washington-based World Bank, China's Central Statistics Bureau has been projecting an increase in its country's GDP of over 8%. Respectively, this would have resulted in total GDP valuations in 2009 of USD4.58 trillion and USD4.97 trillion.

While Japan's manufacturing sector and export markets were decimated by the global recession, China's trading performance held up rather better and domestic consumption was helped enormously by the Chinese Government's stimulus programme.

It had been widely predicted that China would occupy second place in 2010, now the year will merely seen the country extend its gap and press the US for pole position.

In 2010, China's GDP is expected to register growth of between 8% and 9%, compared with growth of just 3%/4% in the US.