Eastern promise

Power is moving towards Asia – or so the conventional wisdom goes. But Asian leaders have been notable by their absence as a global financial crisis threatens to deteriorate into a global economic crisis. Their quiescence is dangerous. Asia holds massive foreign exchange reserves and contributes a quarter of world output. The region should play a fuller part in assuaging the fear gripping markets. Japan and China together have about $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. China has almost $2 t...