Does China matter? No, it is not a silly question - merely one that is not asked often enough. Old as it may seem, the country that is home to a fifth of humankind is consistently overrated as an economy, a world power, a source of ideas. Economically, China is a relatively unimportant small market militarily, it is less a global rival like the Soviet Union than a regional menace like Iraq politically, its influence is puny. The middle kingdom is a middle power. China matters far less than it most of the west think, it is high time the west began treating it as such.

Eight steps to a new financial order The economic conflagrations that lit up the world throughout the last half decade sent a very clear message: There are fatal flaws in the global financial architecture. The Bretton woods system was designed for a very different world. The IMF part schoolmarm part firefighter no longer plays either role well. Too often it ignores the real victims make crises worse. The system must be redrawn to stabilize markets head off panics before they spin out of control. Herewith a simple eight-point plan for such reforms that uses existing institutions respects current notions of national sovereignty.

Learning to love the WTO U.S. trade policy is adrift under siege. America's traditional commitment to open markets is now buffeted by both left right from labor unions environmentalists to big business "America First" isolationists. Fortunately, the advent of the World Trade Organization offers Washington a chance to balance the protectionist threat. If the United States cooperates with the WTO to settle trade disputes multilaterally it can dilute both protectionist pressure at home anti-American resentment abroad. But robust leadership commitment will be needed an either Congress nor President Clinton seems up to the task.