“I don’t think any of us — in this area and across Scotland as a whole — is moving fast enough to understand and deal with the implications China will undoubtedly have on our economy,” he told the Evening Telegraph. “Make no mistake, the implications for us all are huge.”

Mr Rolfe’s comments come just hours after Scotland’s Deputy First Minister singled out two life sciences companies in Tayside for praise during a visit to China.

Addressing a seminar in Beijing, enterprise minister Jim Wallace lauded Dundee-based Axis-Shield and Bio-Rad Laboratories (Europe) Ltd. of Perth, describing them as a “shining example” of how to capitalise on opportunities in China. Both have forged potentially lucrative links with China.

Mr Wallace told the seminar China is “a land of opportunity for Scotland” and the opportunities are greater still when it comes to areas such as life sciences where Scotland is a world leader.

In-vitro diagnostic products company Axis-Shield is currently taking forward an agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Health to use its products in a diabetes research project. It is estimated there are 40 million diabetic patients in China — with the number increasing by a million a year.

Bio-Rad (Europe), based at Perth’s Riverview Business Park, has revealed that it is projecting a five-fold increase this year in the number of neonatal test kits it supplies to China. The potential of the market can be measured by the fact there are 17 million births a year there.

Mr Rolfe said existing links between Tayside and China were much wider and deeper than probably many people in the area realised.

For example Angus Council had forged strong links with the city of Yantai in the province of Shandong in eastern China. Abertay and Dundee universities also had growing educational links with the country.

The chamber was planning to be involved in a trade mission to China possibly later this year or next year.

“The existing links between Tayside and China are very positive,” commented Mr Rolfe, “but there is still enormous potential for this area to exploit. The first and most important is that every company in Tayside should be aware of what’s happening in China.

“Even if they don’t think there’s a business opportunity there, they need to understand the dynamics of the Chinese market and how it might impact on Scotland.

“It’s going to impact massively on the whole of the western economy. Manufacturing costs there are miniscule and there is plenty of labour available. The Chinese are taking a million peasants a year off the fields and putting them into industry.”

Mr Rolfe said he had made a trade visit to China last year and had been “amazed” by what he had seen in terms of industrial development.

“The scale of what is happening there is just mind-boggling,” he said. “As an example, the Chinese are in the process of opening a new business park in the Yantai area — it’s a third of the size of Dundee and is already properly serviced and ready to go.”