Financial crisis fuelled power shift to east - Davos analysts

The global financial crisis has accelerated the shift in the balance of power from west to east, panelists at the Davos forum said on Friday.

Hirotaka Takeuchi from Japan's Hitotsubashi University said it was "absolutely" this factor which had fuelled the trend.

"They are dead right. The key ground is Asia," he said, reacting to a poll by British broadcaster BBC which found that some 60 per cent of those surveyed said the recent crisis has propelled the shift in power to the east.

"Japan's volume of trade with China has reached 48.5 per cent. That's the reality and that's the future. If you include India, that's going to be the main playground for us," added the dean of the university's Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: "I do think that the economic trouble has led to the acceleration of the rise of the east, particularly China."

Gerard Lyons, who is chief economist of Standard Chartered bank, noted that the shift in the balance of power was "multifold."

"They are the countries with the financial resources - China, Qatar, they are the countries with resources, like South Africa. They are the countries that can adapt and change," he said.

However, the shift has prompted concerns.

Roth said: "I am worried about the political consequences. Will China be seen as the model of economic development (and) political liberalisation?"

It has also had an impact on the global job market.

"The jobs are in the east, the jobs are unfortunately not in the west, that's where the challenge is," said Lyons.

"The reality is that many people in the west are finding it hard to come to the terms to the fact that they are seeing a shift in power," he added.