BERLIN — Asia's rise as an economic and political player exemplifies what globalization is all about. By the decade's end, China's economy will be larger than Germany's. By 2040 three of the world's five largest economies — China, India and Japan — will be in Asia.

That's one side of the Asian picture. The other side is persistent poverty, lack of development, massive environmental degradation, a widespread rural-urban divide, demographic problems and troubled banking systems.

The picture is further complicated by security risks such as nuclear-arms proliferation, fundamentalism, and weak or failing governance.