Compared with their parts in developed countries, enterprises of China, Russia, India and Brazil are increasingly finding their way onto the Fortune 500 list in recent years. This year more than 30 Chinese enterprises, including those owned by Hong Kong businesses, are on the list, five more than last year, with Sinopec among the top 20. India has seven companies in the top 500, while Russia and Brazil has five each on the Top 500 list.

Since US investment bank Goldman & Sachs began publishing annual reports on the economic outlook of emerging economies, the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) has become one of the most recognized synonyms for fast economic growth.

The rise of emerging markets signals that the global economic structure is undergoing a fundamental transformation. The continued growth of emerging economies has become a new engine for the world economy. And the leading enterprises of these emerging economies being on the Fortune 500 list reflects the reality that the power structure of the international economic system is changing and is bound to trigger a structural shift in world politics while helping the international political and economic order become more just and reasonable.

Admittedly, the economic growth of emerging markets still relies very much on developed markets such as the US, Japan and the EU. The US subprime woes and resulting global economic slowdown may put emerging economies at risks hard to foresee. It means whether enterprises of emerging economies will maintain their present positions will be decided by the world economy as it develops. Therefore emerging economies will find their places in the world economy determined by whether they can pull off such critical tasks as system innovation, market expansions and achieving orderly reorientation of their economic growth patterns.

The author is a researcher with China Institute of Contemporary International Relations

(China Daily July 31, 2008)