The Japan-like funk that investors said could never befall the U.S. or Europe is now dangerously plausible. So is the idea that Asia’s boom could fizzle as the richest nations drag developing ones down with them.

Risks aside, Asian leaders should be riding high. Many boast what wealthier nations lack: rapid gross-domestic-product growth; vast savings; room to cut interest rates and boost public spending; and a dynamism only found in economies destined for major things.

China, flush with currency reserves roughly equivalent to the combined GDP of India and Australia, will surely be asked to play a sugar-daddy role for the global good. President Hu Jintao may be asked to inject money into the International Monetary Fund or support U.S. Treasuries.

So will Asia really enjoy increased influence as world leaders gather? Not nearly as much as it should, and the region deserves some of the blame.

The Group of Seven countries is a cartel not unlike OPEC, and a dying one at that. The time when Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the U.S. had their way with markets has passed. It’s struggling to cling to power.

Consider this summit the end of the G-7’s dominance. It’s being replaced by the Group of 20, a changing of the guard that’s long overdue. Put this firmly under the category of better late than never.

Consisting of G-7 members plus Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the European Union, the G-20 is a more logical framework for such talks. Its leaders oversee almost 90 percent of global GDP.

Asia should be a bigger player than it’s likely to be. Why? The region lacks a Gordon Brown of its own.

“In the UK, Gordon Brown until recently was a failing prime minister,’’ Richard Dobbs, senior partner at McKinsey & Co. in Seoul, said at a conference there on Nov. 12. “He managed to rehabilitate himself with his handling of this global crisis.’’

Brown’s plan to buy equity stakes in banks became an international template for stabilizing financial systems. Even U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who initially ruled out such a step, followed Brown’s lead.

This isn’t a hero-gram for Brown. Critics wonder why Brown didn’t do more to cap skyrocketing debt, regulate markets and see troubles brewing at banks such as Northern Rock Plc. in his decade as chancellor of the exchequer.

Yet, there’s something to be said for Brown’s leadership at a time when others failed to take initiative.

Dobbs says Asia needs such leadership, or at least a spokesman of sorts. Groups such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, are impressing no one.

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