Asia today<\/p>\n
For the first time since the rise of the international system,
\nit appears possible to say that Asia is moving from being an
\nobject of history to a subject. Colonialism was the most obvious
\nsense in which the continent was turned into an unwilling
\nappendage of others' economies, politics, values and wars. Asia
\nwas an object of colonial interest, degradation and remolding.
\nEven after formal decolonization, its destiny was tied ultimately
\nto the ideological conflict between communism and capitalism, and
\nlarge parts of it suffered directly from the proxy battles
\nbetween the superpowers.<\/p>\n
It is only now, after the end of the Cold War, that it has an
\nopportunity to become an actor in its own right, the author of
\nits own destiny, an autonomous subject of world history. This is
\nnot so much because Asia has a monopoly of wisdom or virtue. It
\nis because technological change, particularly in the areas of
\ncommunication and transport, and global investment and trade
\npatterns look set to favor what was a rich continent full of poor
\npeople.<\/p>\n
There are two quite contradictory, but equally harmful,
\napproaches that some quarters in the West adopt towards Asian
\nvoices. One approach is to dismiss them as the ephemeral
\npretensions of a global nouveau riche that is trying to talk back
\nto the world's old wealth. The other approach is to profess fear
\nover the rise of an Asia which, to the extent that it refuses to
\ntoe a Western line on democracy and human rights, is avowedly a
\nthreat to the Western system.<\/p>\n
-- The Straits Times, Singapore<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asia-today-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }