Chinese stocks have fallen less than global peers since the conflict began, the yuan has held steady against the dollar and government bond yields have barely moved. Together, this amounts to surprising resilience in a crisis that, at first glance, appeared likely to leave the country vulnerable.

For decades, Beijing has sought to insulate its economy from precisely this kind of shock. It poured investments into renewables, secured dominance across much of the clean-energy supply chain and promoted electric vehicles at a remarkable speed.

Japan, Korea and India are down about 6 per cent, 9 per cent and 4 per cent respectively since late February. European markets have lost around 5 per cent and US stocks fell 1.4 per cent.