Russia is now heading the G8 for the first time, inevitably triggering questions about why the two Asian giants have not joined long ago.

China must look on from the sidelines, although it has an economy that is roughly five times larger than Russia's.

A G8 finance ministers' meeting in Moscow on Friday and Saturday will group Russia with what were once seen as the world's mightiest economies: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

China officially became the world's fourth largest economy after recording GDP growth of 9.9 percent last year, and is a top priority for most nations when they look at their trade strategies.

Its official stance, repeated by local government-employed researchers, is a pronounced lack of interest in membership.

"It's not the right time for China to join," said Niu Jun, an international relations scholar at Beijing University, citing the oft-quoted argument that a developing country does not belong in a group of industrialized nations.

Even so China's views are shifting away from a traditional dismissal of the G8 as a rich man's club, according to observers.

Partly this is because the current generation of leaders around President Hu Jintao places greater emphasis on relations with industrialized nations.

But its entry into the World Trade Organization in late 2001, made possible only after opening its economy wider to foreign competition, may cause some renewed hesitation.

"China would now like to enjoy G8 member status but is wary of a new vehicle for concessions," said Jane Skanderup, an expert on the Asian political economy at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Using membership as a bait, the G8 could try to press China on revaluing its currency or even on democratization, she said.

While not enthusiastically pursuing the G8, China actively seeks to promote other multilateral forums where it can shine more easily, according to Ralph Cossa, director of Honolulu-based think tank Pacific Forum CSIS.

"China attaches priority to new forums where it can increase its diplomatic profile, especially among its neighbors, and preferably when it is the biggest kid at the party," he said.