Back words with action

The rebound of Chinese shares as well as a number of regional markets on Monday represents a tentative return of market confidence. It shows that weekend efforts by world leaders have helped soothe anxious investors' minds for the moment.

However, to change the tide of a worsening global financial crisis, policymakers around the world need to come up with not only political determination. Concrete actions to unblock the financial system's plumbing are urgently needed if markets are to be jolted out of their panic.

The worst falls for decades in markets of major industrialized nations last week have galvanized participants at the meeting of the Group of Seven and the annual sessions of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank into agreeing on a coordinated global response to the unfolding financial crisis.