Influence and economic prowess are steadily moving eastward. Yesterday, the G7 group of industrialised countries (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, as well as the president of the European Union) started their summit meeting in Japan, having last met in Germany.
In September, the G20 group will meet in China (their previous meeting was in Turkey). And finally, in October, the BRICS summit (of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be hosted by India (the previous host was Russia). Global clubs are all the rage. Although not by design, that all three of these key meetings will occur in Asia during 2016 tells an important story of the global dispersion of economic weight, political influence and military power characteristic of the 21st century.
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