In the short term, ministers believe, Britain would gain nothing from standing in its neighbours' path.
Moreover, the conflicts in Congo and in its neighbours are interconnected, tangling the threads still further.
"Japan is clearly participating in the global rebound, and its Asian neighbours in particular are lending a helping hand, " said Adrian Foster at Rabobank.
Singapore, never in tune with its neighbours, also seems keen to speed things up.
Yet these stark realities are not widely appreciated in Germany or its neighbours.
By the same token, the interests of peace in the Middle East would not be served if, in negotiations with its neighbours, Israel made concessions that weakened its defences.
What happens in Liberia affects its neighbours.
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Thailand's headline consumer-price inflation (4.1% in the year to July) was too high for the central bank's comfort, but lower than in many of its neighbours, such as China (6.5%), India, where wholesale prices rose by 9.2%, or Vietnam, where consumer prices rose by an alarming 23% in the year to August.
Dr Richard Jolly, author of a United Nations Development Programme report comparing standards of living in the world's nations, has ranked the UK ahead of many of its European neighbours, in part because of improvements in its education services.
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Touching on immigration in Europe, he said Britain would give "practical help and advice" to its neighbours in order to avoid a "full scale immigration crisis" and a "complete reversal" of the 1985 Schengen Agreement, which phased out border checks across the continent.
But regardless, Mr Krishna says, India does not (any longer) meddle in the affairs of its neighbours.
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Italy, in particular, surprised its neighbours, and the financial markets, with its willingness to impose tough fiscal measures.
In Britain more than its neighbours, we were already used to food being cheap, sometimes improbably and impossibly so.
Malaysia's economy outpaced most of its neighbours in 1999 and 2000, defying predictions.
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Brazil, on the other hand, is ahead of its neighbours in making all levels of government publish clear accounts.
Unlike its neighbours in the surrounding valleys, Caleta gets little relief from nearby rivers carrying water from the Andes to the sea.
Germany is one step ahead of its neighbours in consolidating the industry.
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In its relations with its neighbours, Russia has mostly relied on coercion.
Some of the weakness in both Germany and its neighbours may reflect the short-term impact of government and corporate reforms, which may be boosting long-term competitiveness, but are also dampening wages and thus consumer spending.
Cholera outbreaks, such as the one that hit Peru and its neighbours in the early 1990s, tend to happen suddenly, as the formerly benign bacteria turn on their pathogenic apparatus when they hit the body.
Regional specialists believe that Tanzania's reputation as an honest broker and as a strictly neutral party in the conflicts afflicting its neighbours would be damaged by Tanzanian soldiers serving as mercenaries for forces outside the country.
Ecuador countered by releasing what purports to be Reyes's diary, which implicates disgraced former aides of Mr Correa in accepting FARC money but not the president himself. (Colombia reckons the document is fabricated.) Until it gets active co-operation from all its neighbours in fighting the FARC and other drug traffickers, Colombia will conclude that it must rely on American support.
The biggest losers from a hard landing in China would be its Asian neighbours.
Thailand's economy is already growing slower than its neighbours' in part because of the continuing political uncertainty.
The wealthy county of Oakland would lose its triple-A rating simply because its neighbours are in trouble.
Yet the bigger threat to its ambitions to reassert regional influence lies in its own attitude towards the neighbours.
So far Guinea has escaped much criticism of domestic repression, partly because its neighbours are in such a mess.
China plays a larger role in the economies of its immediate neighbours.
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