Saturday, January 15 2005 11:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Propelled by robust economic growth, India and China will rise as "new major global players" this century and transform the geopolitical landscape, a US Intelligence report said in Washington.

Likening it in significance to the emergence of a united Germany in 19C and a powerful United States in the early 20C, the report prepared by CIA's National Intelligence Council, called "Mapping the Global Future," said that it would have impacts potentially as dramatic as those in the previous two centuries."

In the same way that commentators refer to the 1900s as the "American Century," the 21st century may be seen as the time when Asia, led by China and India, comes into its own.

A combination of sustained high economic growth, expanding military capabilities and large populations will be at the root of the expected rapid rise in economic and political power for both countries.

With new global actors, the report said, "How we mentally map the world in 2020 will change radically." The "arriviste" powers - China and India, and perhaps others such as Brazil and Indonesia - have the potential to render obsolete the old categories of East and West, North and South, aligned and nonaligned, developed and developing.

The report acknowledges that globalisation will lead to several "uncertainties". "Barring an abrupt reversal of the process of globalization or any major upheavals in these countries, the rise of these new powers is a virtual certainty."

Most forecasts indicate that by 2020 India's gross national product will overtake or be on the threshold of overtaking European economies, the report said.