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Economically, China is the greatest beneficiary and the leading driver of globalisation. Politically, it is the chief champion of traditional nationalism.

Both are at play in the extraordinary saga - which has only just begun - of Google's quixotic attempt to open up Beijing's internet boundaries, to demolish the Great Firewall of China.

The company was yesterday attempting to play down what has been happening since chief legal officer David Drummond stunned the world with his announcement two days before.

He said that after a cyber attack on Google and 20 other big companies operating in the internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors that Google attributes to Chinese agents, "we are no longer willing to continue censoring results" on google.cn, the...