Reuters reports that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the West had to be very careful about the exact nature of Chinese investment in Western economies and think very carefully about investments in strategic assets.

Asked by the BBC if the West should pull back from Chinese investment, Blinken said the United States was not trying to hold China back or contain it but that the West wanted to uphold the rules-based international order formed after World War Two.

"I think we have to be very careful about exactly what the nature is of that investment," Blinken told when asked about huge amounts of Chinese investment in the West.

"If it is investing in strategic industries, strategic assets that's something that countries need to look at very carefully."

He added though: "Another thing is to say: 'We're not doing any business'. That's not what we're saying."

While China's re-emergence has concerned the West, China was for centuries one of the most influential economies on earth.