In The News

China: The Missing Member at the G-8 Table

Jeffrey E. Garten June 3, 2004
China's key position in the world economy is increasingly obvious. A slew of indicators, from car usage and steel output to population size, shows that China cannot be ignored. Yet, writes Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean of the Yale School of Management, China will not be attending the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Georgia. Americans and others should wake up to China's importance for even...

Kerry Vows to Rebuild Alliances, Confront Terrorism

Jim VandeHei May 28, 2004
The United States political climate is heating up as the November presidential election nears. Presumptive democratic candidate for president John F. Kerry viscerally attacked current president George W. Bush about matters of foreign policy yesterday, saying actions taken over the course of Bush's term had undermined a legacy of cooperative US leadership that had stood for decades. Kerry’s...

Arab Presence at G-8 Summit

Mohammed A. R. Galadari May 25, 2004
This year’s G8 summit, held in The United States, may be punctuated, for the first time, by the conspicuous presence of leaders of Arab states. This is a departure from the last meeting of world powers, held in France in 2003, which featured discussions that did not directly involve the Middle East and included little input from the Arab community – only Egyptian and Saudi Arabian delegations...

Invite China to Join G7 for Everybody's Sake

Kevin Rafferty May 4, 2004
In this op-ed for the Hong Kong-based The Standard, Kevin Rafferty argues for the inclusion of China in the G-7/8 group. Though he acknowledges arguments about China's not having the proper "system" or freely convertible currency that naysayers deem necessary to be in the exclusive club of like-minded economic powers, Rafferty argues that China's awesome economic status and...

A Very Dangerous Game

Martin Wolf September 30, 2003
Overspending in America to stimulate its economy has pushed the US fiscal deficit way out of balance – up to about six percent of US GDP. To service this debt, the US government has sold US$870 billion in Treasury bonds to foreign governments since 1999, creating a significant current account deficit. Martin Wolf argues that the US has mortgaged its economy by selling overpriced treasury bonds to...

Poor Show at Evian

David Tresilian June 6, 2003
The recent G-8 meeting in Evian, France attracted particular attention because it was the first time leaders of the west met after the U.S. war on Iraq. Also, in an effort to widen the scope of dialogue, for the first time, leaders from some developing countries were invited to attend the summit. Although the original agenda included major global issues such as access to water, the fight against...

President Rewards Like-Minded World Leaders With State Visits

David E. Sanger May 28, 2003
U.S. President George W. Bush has used his Texas ranch for many world leaders' state visits. Now he has even had Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sit in on his highly classified morning intelligence briefing on global affairs and terrorist activities and given President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines special treatment as well. Japan has recently launched its first spy...