For David Shambaugh, China is not the global force that many now seem to automatically presume.

Despite being the world's second-largest economy, he insists it still doesn't have the sort of influence the United States and the West generally has to shape the world.

"Is China a global power or not? A major power has influence over any domain. If you have influence, you are setting standards, shaping events and shaping the actions of others. By all of these measures I find China a partial power at best," he says.

Shambaugh, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University and a leading Sinologist, was speaking in the late evening sun of the courtyard Holiday Inn Express in Dongzhimen, in China's capital.

David Shambaugh says China still doesn't have the influence to shape the world. [LIU ZHE/CHINA DAILY]

He was in Beijing to promote his new book, China Goes Global: The Partial Power, one of the major books on China this year.

While the popular perception might be that China has had deep enough pockets to keep the world afloat since the financial crisis and that its companies are making acquisitions around the world, the reality, according to Shambaugh, is somewhat different.

"China's ODI(overseas direct investment) was $77.2 billion last year. That ranked China, the world's second-largest economy at No 5 in the world. The Netherlands exports more capital that China does. If you look at the destinations of China's ODI, four of the top five locations are tax havens. It is money that is being parked abroad," he says.

Questioning China's real achievements