Asia comes into its own
The time could not be
riper to build and consolidate bridges of unity among Asian
states, since the economic circumstances in which most of them
find themselves are most propitious for an epochal undertaking
of this kind. Now is the time, it would seem, to realize that
anxiously nurtured but long postponed dream of indomitable Asian
solidarity, which was initiated in the first flush of
decolonization in the fifties and sixties of the century past.
These reflections are triggered in the observer of Asian
affairs by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s pronouncement at the
Asia Cooperation Dialogue Summit held in Kuwait recently that an
Asian Age has dawned. He made a strong case for a closer and
vibrant dialogue among the countries of Asia for the purpose of
advancing development, in these times when there are
unprecedented prospects of economic growth in the ‘Southern’
hemisphere of the world.
In former times, ‘South’ referred to the developing world,
spanning Asia, Africa and other regions of underdevelopment. The
term ‘North’ broadly pointed to the affluent and industrialized
West, which until very recently, wielded overwhelming global
economic and military power. It was in the early eighties that
the phrase North-South Dialogue was coined by international
development experts to point to the need for cooperation between
the rich and the poor of the world for the purpose of laying the
groundwork for harmonious economic interaction, shared material
prosperity and collective survival.
However a couple of decades prior to the mooting of the
North-South Dialogue, in the late forties and the fifties, the
decolonized countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America had
awakened to their distinctiveness as a grouping of states in the
international order. The common socio-economic and political
features which united them were underdevelopment, powerlessness
and cultural oppression, besides being one-time colonies of the
imperial powers of mainly the West.
It was conceptualized by the leaders of the Third World that
the underdeveloped and developing countries should be united
into a strong collectivity that would work towards securing the
legitimate interests of the poor and powerless of the
international system. Sri Lanka’s very own SWRD Bandaranaike
stood shoulder- to- shoulder with political giants of the Third
World, such as, Jawaharlal Nehru, Marshal Tito, N’kruma for the
furtherance of these aims.
These and many more concerns of the developing world were
projected in seminal gatherings of the powerless in the late
forties and the early fifties, such as, the Asian Relations
Conference and the Bandung Conference, to name just two such
forums. From these initial meetings of eminent Third World
leaders sprang into being the Non-aligned Movement and other
memorable political formations of the powerless which
articulated most eloquently the developing countries’ cry for
justice and equality in the international order.
The point that we are leading to is that the tables have now
been turned. The one-time powerless are on the threshold as it
were of unprecedented growth and prosperity and it is all
happening in East Asia, among other regions of great promise.
Among the foremost economic powers of the globe are China,
India, Brazil and South Africa - one time developing countries
which were doughtily championing international economic equity
and justice in the middle of the last century. Today, they are
the Captains of industry and enterprise and are in a position to
be role models of economic growth for their former colonizers.
There is a need for constant rapport among the developing
countries because a fool-proof growth model is yet to be
evolved. If a good part of Europe is in the economic doldrums,
it is because the West has failed to come out with a formula for
Sustained Development. This task has fallen to the lot of Asia
and it has to strike on a development strategy which will prove
viable.
While doing this, Asian states would need to interact
vibrantly economically and open their economies to each other
for investment, trade and closer integration. Although, the gap
between the North and South has narrowed, the developing world
is still a long way from equality with the economic powerhouses
of the West. However, while forging ahead, the developing world
should share their prosperity with each other, along with their
growth formulas. |