Majority rules?

Who said majority rules? In the current global village, the
world's most populated areas are not ruling much at all -– but for how much
longer? It is rather incongruent that most western countries are so self
consumed that we don't tend to share the spotlight with 'the descendants of
the worlds oldest surviving civilisation' -– with the biggest population.

China -– the sleeping giant is slowly stirring, and
realising her potential in the 21^st century -– the capacity to
develop quickly into a mega-power in the global scheme of things. While the 'old
guard' Communist President Jiang Zemin retires out of the political
limelight making way for a new approach to Chinese leadership in the person of
Hu Jintao, there is no doubt that Jiang intends to pull the strings of
governance from behind the scenes. Hu has publicly stated that Jiang's "important
thinking" is now the ideology for the new age. This is not unusual in Chinese
hierarchal traditional where even leaders will defer to their elders for wisdom
or direction.

China will not be held back in yesteryear (some may suggest
the dark ages) for too much longer, as overt communism begins releasing her
grip. China's entry into the World Trade Organisation in December 2001 seems
to have roused her gigantic capacity -– with many world markets suddenly
sitting up and taking notice. Soon, when China beckons or calls, the Western
world may just rush to respond.

As a member of WTO, China/US relations are tense as China is
beginning to exert her muscle: As the worlds largest steel producer, China has
raised complaints at the WTO, challenging super power USA over 'excessive'
duties imposed on imported steel. Other WTO countries are also pressuring the
USA for concessions.

For the first time in her modern history, Chinese authorities
are allowing foreign firms to buy into local industries. Super giant corporate
groups Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Exon Mobil are working on a joint venture
with Petro-China, and BP (Europe's largest oil company) are developing
projects in Southern China.

Leaders from the Southeast Asian Nations Group (Asean) which
includes: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma,
Laos and Vietnam collectively, are taking China very seriously as a dangerous
competitive threat to the regions trade. The sheer enormity of China's
capacity is mind boggling.

India has the world's largest postal network, serving more
than 1 billion people. The Indian postal service was established in 1864 by the
British, and until this year, very little had changed -– in some cases 'reforms
are called for'.