Russia's stake in Asia-Pacific

Holding the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok will give Russia a chance to remind the world that two-thirds of its vast territory is in Asia and that it has a longer stretch of the Pacific coastline than any other country. After the break-up of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Russia has all but vanished from the Asia-Pacific horizon.

The name of the game has changed: Ideological confrontation and military stand-offs have been succeeded by economic competition under globalization. Russia, a champion of the former, is yet to prove itself a modern economic power. Merely playing host to a score of APEC leaders will not do the job, really, because Russia needs to upgrade its economy to make its presence genuinely felt in Asia and the Pacific.

Can an opening to Asia-Pacific help? It surely can. Some of the Russian regions most hit by de-industrialization and falling population are East Siberia and the Far East. These territories physically abut some of Asia-Pacific's most dynamic or most advanced economies: China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Once an industrial power itself, Russia has now turned into a raw materials' base for its neighbors. Can Russia do better? It must, if it wants to stay in one piece.