Senior politicians from Canada and China provided a stark contrast on the second day of the Davos summit, one making a plea for global cooperation and the other mapping out an ambitious agenda of reform in its domestic economic policy.
Warning against "excessive" financial regulation, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a more measured speech than French President Nicolas Sarkozy the day before. Still, he echoed Sarkozy's sentiment of global cooperation, telling a crowd that, unless leaders of G20 nations set aside their differences, the recovery is at risk of failing. "When the G20 resumes in Toronto, the discussion should be ... less about narrow self-interest in sovereignty's name, than an expanded view of mutual interest," Harper said. He also praised the results of similar discussions in the past, but added that "it is acting on the agreement that matters."
Speaking at a meeting of oil leaders, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said that the oil industry faces a "supply challenge" to meet growing demand led by the BRIC -- Brazil, Russia, India, China -- emerging markets. Iraq could be a major oil provider in the future, Hayward said, while new methods to extract gas from shale rock are a "game changer." Meanwhile, the head of the Saudi state oil firm Saudi Aramco argued that there is no need to be concerned about "peak oil" theory -- that global oil supply is at or near its peak.
In other news:
-- India and China are finally being seen as equals.
-- The heads of three struggling European -- Greece, Latvia and Spain -- have all reaffirmed their commitment to the euro.
-- Fortune magazine has an interview with Klaus Schwab, who founded the World Economic Forum 40 years ago.
Well, China already has its national plan in operation, and correctly diagnoses the disorder and fuddled actions of the powers arrayed in the rest of the world. You can't really cooperate with people who aren't sure of what they are doing or cooperating among themselves.
Harper's remarks in my view are as meaningful as the "don't worry, be happy" perspective offered by the Saudis.
The news that these supersmart folks now see China and India as equals is reassuring, I suppose. I suspect they will be delivering many more lessons about their newly discovered status in the near future. Whether in the long run they will co-exist peacefully is a major open question. So far they seem more rational than not, but things can change.
Comparing the relative disorder and paralysis in our domestic politics, I wonder if the Sino-Singaporean "Asian model" will start to look increasingly attractive to Americans increasingly frustrated by the incompetence and cluelessness of our leadership class. Things would need to get a lot worse here, but it's starting to look like that's thinkable for the first time since the Great Depression.
If the Americans sweep the Democrats out of power , install the Republicans and once again get the same old crap -- it may dawn on them that they don't actually have much more choice than the Chinese.
I wonder how many heads at Davos ate thinking about that?