MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev)

At a superficial glance, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Asian itinerary could be called a "tea route" because tea leaves traversed the same road many centuries ago.

They went from China, which was the first to grow tea, to India, where the imported plants suddenly produced new varieties. As a result, the Brits changed their preferences and switched from Chinese to Indian tea. Globalization started long before the end of the 20th century, and the British Empire was a small part of this process.

It may be worth pondering over the symbolic character of British "tea ceremonies" at 10 Downing Street, where Brown welcomed the leaders of the Chinese, and later on the Indian community in Britain on the eve of his departure for Asia.

Yet, it is important to understand that Britain's current relations with the Asian giants are not a nostalgic twist, but a well-calculated and realistic effort to enter the new world. It is very different from the world which

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