centre stage

However, whether Beijing, under its present consensus-seeking leadership, is ready to move to centre stage in this way must be doubted.

Centre stage was the creation of a Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade and a similar forum for financial matters.

So functionaries take centre stage, too afraid to push through difficult policies and innovate, forever trying to accommodate everyone.

Now that this goal is about to be realized, their disagreements could take centre stage.

The next day, he and his father took centre stage at a huge military parade through the city that was broadcast live to the nation.

As they receded from view, health took centre stage and continued to hog the limelight for almost a year.

"Soaring grain prices have brought food inflation back to centre stage, " said Joachim Fels of Morgan Stanley in London.

In the UK the Bank of England policy meeting will take centre stage but there is unlikely to be any change in policy settings.

For many Egyptians a transition had already started, with the army and its intentions, though still ambiguous, taking centre stage.

The rowdy schoolboys and apprentices take centre stage; behind them, stitching in a corner or singing to a doll, the girls remain as ghosts.

Whereas inflationary expectations have moved centre-stage, monetary developments have been reduced to a walk-on part.

Whether or not she's centre stage, Olivia is always a star!

And displays of patriotic fervour were also centre-stage when China followed the Games with its first space walk last month.

But one day Franklin learned that you don't have to be at centre stage to be star.

After 40 years Tony and his team are certainly set to do that and put the Great Southern Wine Region on centre stage.

However, in recent days China has launched a series of initiatives which demonstrate a desire to move centre-stage.

As Board members debated reforms for a healthy future, health needs and priorities at country level took centre stage.

Many professional investors believe that it is time for the large caps to take centre stage and outperform their smaller brethren.

Ryan Giggs is relishing the chance to be centre stage in the twilight of his remarkable career.

Science did not take centre stage in the process.

An unfolding debt crisis in the eurozone and the risk of a "double-dip" recession in the west have moved centre stage.

The writing may have started as an end in itself for many, but other interests have started to take centre stage.

At an emergency meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) this week, Zimbabwe was back at centre-stage.

Previous Japanese First Ladies may not have walked three paces behind their husband, but none of them exactly hogged centre stage.

The war's abject failure discredited pan-Arabism, allowing Arafat to bring the Palestinian cause itself to centre stage.

This week they took centre stage, dumping potentially toxic securities and fleeing for the safety of government bills.

After these performances, it was time for the athletes themselves to take centre stage.

Birds take centre-stage for the first time and turn out to be remarkably bright and engaging mammals.

Each of you has a role to play and is equally important to the whole, even although only some can take the centre stage.

"That tells you that China remains centre stage as the main supply base for these buyers, " Pepples told Reuters.

But the American role in the Muslim narrative is moving away from centre stage.

The guillotine soon took centre stage in the Revolution, as 14000 "enemies of the state" were brought to lie beneath its blade.

Healthcare and financial system reform are centre-stage, while a climate bill passed by the House languishes.

The debate over how to value elaborate securities, less pressing in good times, is now taking centre stage.

In the meantime, however, the abstract issues he raised in Oslo and Cairo have thrust themselves to centre-stage.

Steven Gerrard swapped centre midfield for centre stage last night at Liverpool's Empire Theatre.

Relationships of all kinds will take centre stage, and during the first days of October you can't take other people for granted.

Yet Central Asia is now moving closer to centre-stage.

India takes centre stage here with the vast continent of Africa curving away to the left.

The core cast is small. Along with Mr Paulson at the Treasury, four central bankers take centre stage.

First Greece took centre stage; then Ireland; then Portugal; then Greece again.

The economy, of course, takes centre-stage in every stump speech.

As China moves centre stage for the Olympics, its actions will be under greater scrutiny than ever before.

This region continues to occupy centre stage in world affairs.

Today, both India and China are in the midst of rapid transformation. The development agenda has taken centre-stage in both our societies.

Considering his excellent rapport with Ferrara from their time as teammates, it's likely he'll be placed centre-stage.

Centre stage now belongs to the traffic on the southern Silk Road.

Liquidity risk was low on the agenda in previous years; this year it is centre-stage, he says.

Utilities and energy took centre-stage.

The IMF's relevance may have been in doubt during the boom years but the crisis has seen it return decisively to centre stage.

Hillary Clinton never looks happier than when she is centre stage.

For good or ill, identity politics have taken centre stage in Hong Kong.

a new team of Chinese leaders takes centre stage in March

Keeps the brand centre stage, as hero