Listening
to what Asia might have to say
Tom Plate ; The
author of many books about Asia, from “Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew” to
the current “In the Middle of China’s Future: Tom Plate on Asia”
|
JAKARTA
POST, 11 November 2014
If our future is not to be dulled by the dead weight of the
past, then a clear-headed prioritization of the issues of the 21st century
needs to be undertaken.
This means keeping Asia — and thus China — in the top spot of
the global conversation. President Barack Obama’s diplomatic trip this week
to Asia is welcome indeed.
President Barack Obama has only two years of his eight-year
presidency left but that’s enough time for a more original, deeper contribution
to the Sino-US history book than he has made so far.
An eventual hot war between the two would not only be
unaffordable but would be injurious to everyone’s health. A brilliant
US-China policy could prove a kind of global affordable care act.
Up to now the much-hyped US “pivot” to Asia has been almost a
self-deception, with Washington’s mental energies glued to Syria far more
than, for example, strategically situated Singapore.
For understandable reasons of all-consuming domestic political
pressures — more than any lack of international common sense — Washington is
still ensnared in the miseries and poisons of the past.
This has led to missed opportunities for carefully thought out,
if inherently complex, China initiatives. Instead of continuing to be
absorbed by the likes of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu or Syria’s Assad, Obama
and his team over the next two years should spend more of their
foreign-policy energy on Asia. There should be no reverse pivot back.
It is utterly foolish to assume that China’s President Xi and
Premier Li Keqiang don’t have much to offer; in fact they impress almost
everyone as being very capable indeed.
And it is absolutely stupid to believe that simply because they
are of the Communist persuasion they shouldn’t be consulted and listened to
by the US president and his team as often as their attention can be engaged.
Only the moral infant — or the intellectually insecure — is
attentive only to those with whom basic agreement is foretold, or easy to
achieve.
Our diplomacy needs to get out from underneath the intellectual
sloth of its bureaucracies and mix it up more with people who can bring
something new to the table.
In fact, there are a number of Asian leaders, especially
Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong, Indonesia’s Joko Widowo and the Philippines’
Benigno Aquino, who can offer America different and invaluable perspectives.
The world, as we all know, is now all but a universal global entity. We
really all are in this together.
Let us listen more to others. After all, with unprecedented
rapidity and scale, China ought to win some sort of global prize for so
dramatically improving the economic lot of its 1.36 billion people. What the
sprawling nation has accomplished in the last three decades is almost
unbelievable — and probably unprecedented.
On the tiny population end of the scale, of course, there is
Singapore, which deserves some sort of global award for the best overall
selection and implementation of national public policy over many decades. It
has been some show there.
The Philippines doesn’t get much positive publicity, of course,
but it has been making healthy strides, and resolutely deserves Washington’s
notice for remaining a democracy — unlike Myanmar, which has never been one,
and Thailand, which apparently doesn’t again want to be one.
Even shamefully backward and scary North Korea, which has now
dramatically released two captive Americans, finally looks to be considering
joining the Asian parade.
Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other country — might
not its new president be worth America’s rapt attention on certain issues?
Huge obstacles threaten to derail the through-train to the
future. The list — from the troubling unsettlement in Hong Kong (a situation
which Beijing needs to negotiate further along careful lines) to the
ever-present potential of religious extremism throughout the region — is
long. But only one issue consistently merits top ranking. That is the
relationship between China and America.
Sure, the governing elites of both countries should be able to
maintain it at a minimum level — say, at least above the boiling point. But
is that the best that we can do? Inspired statesmanship on both sides of the
Pacific needs to raise the relationship to new heights.
That’s the real test for the governments in Beijing and
Washington — taking it to the next level when many others seems pessimistic
and tired and stuck in the past.
This is the challenge of our epoch. As far as I am concerned,
the presidents of America and China cannot meet often enough. What’s more
important? Crossing into the frontiers of the 21st century means taking on
the challenges of the new.
The new now is the rise of Asia — led by China. It’s rather
obvious if you stop to think. ●
|
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar