By Wang Yusheng

Emerging economies, especially represented by the booming BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), have been pushing forward changes since the world stepped into the 21 century. And what attract us more are their new global strategies in facing international situations that are undergoing significant changes.

Represented by the BRICs, most of these emerging developing countries have had their comprehensive national powers risen considerably, and usually in a fast, stable and continuous way.

According to a report by Goldman Sachs, the BRICs are transforming the global economic situation and would probably emerge at the top in the field around the middle of this century. So far, the proportion of the rising economies in the global economy has grown to nearly 50 percent from 39.7 percent in the early 1990s, and these countries' foreign exchange reserves have also soared to some 75 percent of the world's total volume.

Some European and American media exclaimed recently that "the financial centers" of the emerging economies, especially Hong Kong and Dubai are competing with New York and London, and "are increasingly playing more important roles in the international capital market".

On the other hand, the neo-liberal sermons peddled by US-led "free world" are increasingly losing audience. One commentator from Mexico put it rather well: "The Washington Consensus of the US neo-liberalism fully exposed America's attempts to bring the American Continent onto the track of the US, but none of the economic and political 'outer garments' made by the Consensus were suitable for the Latin American region."

Not only Latin American countries have such feelings, but many developing countries also have learned painful lessons from the Asia Financial Crisis in 1997 and the "Shock Therapy" of the former Soviet Union.

Being invited to have dialogues with G8 in dealing with international problems, the five major developing countries (Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India and China) are increasingly playing as an individual side. This was further highlighted this year at Japan's Toyo Lake. Meanwhile, the ASEAN and the SAARC have also had their corporation process accelerated.

The fast rise of the developing countries has become a reality, though such a rise is still quite uneven and some countries are still lagging behind in their development and even are in danger of being marginalized. And this irreversible trend, if directed strategically, has profound impacts and historic significance.

First of all, it prompts the trend of a multi-polar world. From the 1950s to 1960s, the then worldwide independence and liberation movements by colonies and semi-colonies dealt a deadly shock to the international imperialist system. Today, this political anti-control wave has just been dashing itself against the international economic order that is dominated by the West, along with the developing countries' fast rise and their diversified modes of development.

It cannot be denied that the US is still the world's unique superpower and to some extent maintains its influence over global affairs, but what is equally undoubted is that its "commanding rod" has been increasingly challenged and its unilateralism is getting more and more unpopular.

In fact, the existing world system has made it more difficult for a single country to say "yes" or "no" on common affairs. On this the events of the Doha Round are a good example.

Basically, developing countries still belong to the Third World and have the same dreams - political and economic independence, peace, development, fairness and cooperation - even though they may pursue such goals through different tactics. It is then no surprise that different opinions or even disputes sometimes exist among them, just as developed countries are no monolith.

A new century started along with the millennium clock, but a new era had already come after the Cold War ended. Ever since humankind has been facing a special question: what kind of a world do we need?

As late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once pointed out, he felt happy about the end of the Cold War, and he had constantly put peace and development as the main themes of our times. Facts have proved that he was much more farsighted than some Western leaders.

Since the 9/11 terrorists attack, the US has been exhausted by two wars - the war against terrorism and the invasion in Iraq. The first one exacerbated its fiscal situation, and the second one depleted its moral credibility. So, on the one hand, Uncle Sam has been going downward, and on the other, developing countries have been surging ahead pushed by the tide of economic globalization and high-techs.

And it's important to note what these developing countries advocate in these times of change: a multi-polar world instead of a unipolar one, democratization of international relations, emphasis on diversification for modes of development and freedom in choosing political systems, and the need for changing the unequal international mechanism.

The author is a Beijing-based researcher in international relations

(China Daily October 15, 2008)