A triangle of success and prosperity

The global financial crisis wreaked havoc across the globe, but two countries avoided the worst of global meltdown, partly thanks to their strong links with China. In fact, when US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked about the "green shoots" of recovery he might have been better advised to talk about the "bamboo shoots" emanating from China's fiscal stimulus package that ensured that things didn't get any worse globally, especially regionally.

The two countries that benefited the most from China - Brazil and Australia - will play an important role in China's economic development in the 21st century. Brazil and Australia both are large but diverse countries in the southern hemisphere.

Australia was settled as a colony for convicts in a great public-private-sector partnership, but it ultimately became three societies, the jailed, their jailors and the dispossessed indigenous population.