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Asia Unbound

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Don’t Bet on the BRICs

by Joshua Kurlantzick
(L-R) India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, China's President Hu Jintao, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma attend a joint news conference at the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Sanya, Hainan province April 14, 2011.

(L-R) India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, China's President Hu Jintao, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma attend a joint news conference at the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Sanya, Hainan province April 14, 2011 (How Hwee Young/Courtesy Reuters).

In the midst of the Eurozone crisis and the G20 summit, many commentators are hailing this moment as a key sign of America’s decline and the rise of emerging powers – principally China but also India, Brazil and others. In the new issue of Bloomberg Businessweek I argue that this optimism over the BRICS’ ability to aid the world economy is, for now, wildly overrated.

You can read the article in its entirety here.

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Europe Talks China

by Elizabeth C. Economy
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez, and Spain's Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian talk during the signing of commercial agreements between China and Spain at Madrid's Moncloa Palace January 5, 2011.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez, and Spain's Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian talk during the signing of commercial agreements between China and Spain at Madrid's Moncloa Palace on January 5, 2011. (Susana Vera/Courtesy Reuters)

It is always good to get out in the world to gain a little perspective. I’ve spent the past week in Europe, and from London, to Stockholm to Davos, the message seems remarkably similar: as an economy, China rocks; as a global political player, not so much. While the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not acknowledged any missteps in its year of living dangerously — indeed Foreign Ministry officials are hewing very closely to the more assertive line that got them in trouble in the first place — the rest of the world is clearly a bit nonplussed.
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