A Different Perspective

I guess it depends where you get your news from.

If you read the newspaper or tune into news channels in the U.S. or in other established Western powers, you might think this week's annual Group of 8 (G8) Summit in the central Italian city of L'Aquila is all that really matters in the global scheme of things.

However, if you step back and listen to what those based elsewhere are saying -- as with the following Xinhua News Agency column by staff writer Tian Fan, "Commentary: Multi-Polar World on Horizon" -- you get an altogether different perspective.

On the first day of the Group of Eight (G8) summit this year, the most eye-catching event is the small gathering and a follow-up news conference of the leaders from five non-G8 countries.

Obviously, leaders of the five developing countries, namely China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, hope their voices on international affairs could be clearly heard.

It shows not only the increasing aspirations of developing countries to partake international affairs, but also a steady formation of a multi-polar world.

The G8 summit was originated in 1975 when the world economy entered recession as a result of the U.S. dollar crisis and high oil prices. In a bid to cope with those crises, leaders from France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan held a meeting to coordinate their economic policies.

At present, the most significant challenge facing the international community is undoubtedly the ever-spreading international financial and economic crisis. However, the policy coordination platform to respond to the crisis is no longer the G8, which is composed almost entirely of developed countries.

The Group of 20 (G20), which groups both developed and developing countries, has taken a prominent role.

To some extent, such a change indicates the profound development of the international situation. For decades, Western powers have dominated world affairs by formulating rules and coordinating policies. However, with the development of globalization and multi-polarization, the G8 is forced to admit that it can no longer deal with global challenges on its own.

In recent years, the G8 has been trying to strengthen dialogues with developing countries, which also reflects the world is undergoing unprecedented changes.

The international financial chaos resulting from U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis exposed the weakness of the Western model of economic and social development.

Under such circumstances, the rise of the G20 on the international arena is not out of the blue.

The developing countries are no longer standers-by of major decision-making processes, but equal participators.

Unsurprisingly, the interests of developing countries and Western countries vary in many areas. Therefore, dialogues and cooperation among developing countries are necessary.

The first-ever full-scale meeting of leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) in Russia's Yekaterinburg in June was a useful attempt. BRIC has not only translated itself from an economic concept eight years ago into a tangible mechanism of dialogue and cooperation, but also formed a significant force to safeguard the overall interests of developing countries.

As major emerging economies, the four BRIC nations accounted for 42 percent of the world's population, 14.6 percent of global GDP and 12.8 percent of the global trade volume in 2008.

The world listens when the BRIC leaders gather together on international issues.

A multi-polar world is emerging when developing countries speak loudly on the international arena.

Comments

[Mar]

Very few people in the United States and especially in the various media outlets truly believe that the U.S. could ever lose its place of prominence on the world stage and thus we don't have articles like this. I find much, much more information by checking out blogs with links to overseas columns/articles and certain newspapers, such as the U.K.'s Guardian and Telegraph, than I do from any of the U.S. media. Bloomberg, the WSJ, and Drudge are also a big help in getting information. Thanks for this article; I'm bookmarking this Chinese site to have yet another overseas information source.

[roger]

Rest assured that for what is demeaningly called
the 3rd. world (I wonder who fits in the 2nd.)
it is anything but a matter of perspective.every
country in the world as a social stratification,
with the upper lips looking down on the peons
this is mirrored in the relations of nations.
The G8 have simply displayed their condescending
class consciousness