Karishma Vaswani

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Have you heard of Wuilangye Yibin? Or Kweichou Moutai? What about Shanghai Pudong Development Bank?

Chances are soon you will, especially if you're a foreign investor looking at China's markets.

They're some of the biggest companies on China's domestically traded A-share index.

And it has now been confirmed that 222 such firms are slated for inclusion into the MSCI Emerging Market Index - meaning that foreign investors will be able to own a piece of China's growth story, even if it's just a small fraction.

Optimism

While the inclusion is unlikely to have much of an impact on share prices in the short term, it is still hugely symbolic and a sign that China's efforts to improve its corporate governance may be paying off.

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Last week was meant to be Pakistan's moment in the sun.

On 1 June it was upgraded from the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and moved into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which was a "huge boost to its ego" as one analyst told me and a "reputational boost" for the whole country.

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On 2 May 2011, Barack Obama announced that al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US forces in Pakistan.

He was shot dead at a compound near the capital, Islamabad. And once again, Pakistan was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

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A funny thing happened in the US on Thursday night. Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, testifying in a senate banking committee hearing, said something positive about China.

In response to a question from the floor about why the US has yet to name China a currency manipulator - an often repeated vow made by President Trump on the campaign trail - Mr Mnuchin responded that recently, "China has used its currency reserves to go in the other direction which is actually good for American workers".

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For all the talk of North Korea and the controversial THAAD anti-missile system, my recent trip to South Korea left me in no doubt that for most voters, top of their minds going into the country's presidential elections is something far less headline-grabbing: the economy.

In the 1960s, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Today it's Asia's fourth largest economy and one of the world's most advanced.

Investing in property is a mainstay of most Asian portfolios and the UK has typically been among the most desirable of destinations.

Recent data suggests that despite the uncertainty created by Brexit and the upcoming general election, Asian investors are flocking to the UK's shores more than ever before.

You just have to walk down the streets of Seoul to see how pervasive is the influence of South Korea's massive family-run business empires - or chaebols as they're known.

Samsung, Lotte, LG, Hyundai: they are unavoidable, selling everything from mobiles to laptops, cars to washing machines as well as food, drink and even health insurance.

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Samsung Electronics is on track to report record annual earnings, despite its de-facto boss going on trial in a political corruption scandal.

It is forecasting a 48% rise in profits in the January-to-March period, thanks to strong memory chip sales.

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There's a scene in Gurinder Chadha's new British-Indian production, Viceroy's House, that offers a particularly revealing insight into the sentiments some Indians had about colonial rule during the last days of the British Raj.

"Well, whatever their differences are, all Indians have one thing in common," drawls Lord Mountbatten, played by Hugh Bonneville, in the film. "They can't wait to get rid of us."

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"Be Prepared". It's the motto of every good Girl Guide. And it should have been the mantra of every major Asian central bank too, over the last few months.

In the words of my Guide leader (admittedly a few years ago), being prepared means being ready to cope with anything that might come your way.