ASIA: "Hong Kong and Macau: No politics, please; Macau sails through a test Hong Kong flunked in 2003," The Economist, 21 March 2009.

Just interesting to watch how this process unfolds: the various "tests" that the old colonies go through as they negotiate deeper economic integration with China while seeking to maintain political differences. Macau, being more biz-oriented, bends more readily than Hong Kong, a more politicized society. Hong Kong looks at Macau and fears that it sees a more repressive future, and so it fights back against that trend, creating friction with Macau.

But this is useful stuff, especially in terms of teaching Beijing that every "child" is different.

If China someday hopes to anchor an Asian Union, the accommodations required will be vast. Better for China to learn this reality within its perceived immediate family before aspiring to anything more.

That's where I find this China-is-ready-to-lead-the-world stuff fantastically premature: it can barely control its nearest relations at this point.