Asia-Pacific

In a second inaugural address tinged with evangelical zeal, George W. Bush declared: "Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world." The peoples of the world, however, do not seem to be listening. A new world order is indeed emerging - but its architecture is being drafted in Asia and Europe, at meetings to which Americans have not been invited.

What is important is not what it is but what it is becoming......

Shanghai's office and hotel towers are ritzy, the entertainment area, Xintiandi, looks like a Chinese version of London's Covent Garden, and Shanghai girls dress with an almost French sophistication. The city has certainly done a better job of controlling Sars and traffic flows than Beijing. No wonder that this year, all the big foreign conference organisers shifted to Shanghai.