Tsunami disaster stirs debate on Asian unity<\/p>\n
Mark McCord, Agence France-Presse\/Hong Kong<\/p>\n
The Asian tsunami disaster has been a uniquely continental
\ncatastrophe, striking hard from Thailand to the Maldives, and has
\nstirred debate about how Asia should react as a region.<\/p>\n
As well as demonstrating an ability to work together at a time
\nof trouble, Asian nations' responses to the tragedy suggested old
\nfoes were prepared to put their historic enmity aside for the
\ngreater good.<\/p>\n
For instance, Japan has sent to Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh
\nregion the largest overseas military deployment since World War
\nII without incurring warnings of renewed militancy that its other
\nforeign sorties have attracted.<\/p>\n
Also, China has sought to demonstrate an Asian statesman role
\ncommensurate with its rising economic stature by making huge
\ndonations to the region-wide relief effort.<\/p>\n
India, which was once on the brink of war with neighbor Sri
\nLanka, has won over hearts and minds in both nations with its
\nprompt display of generosity towards its former rival's relief
\neffort.<\/p>\n
And the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
\nmanaged, within two weeks of the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster, to
\nshake off its reputation as an ineffectual talking shop with the
\nhasty arrangement of a multi-national relief summit in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In grief and tragedy, could the region finally be showing the
\nsort of unity Asian statesmen like Singapore founding father Lee
\nKwan Yew and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had
\nlong dreamed of?<\/p>\n
\"I wouldn't say this brought Asia together, but it was the
\nfirst time a united Asia was able to display its bonds,\" says
\nMichael DeGolyer, professor of politics at Hong Kong's Baptist
\nUniversity.<\/p>\n
\"I think what it shows is that the region has learned from the
\nprevious tsunami -- the Asian financial crisis -- that it cannot
\nsee itself as a collection of states; it is part of an
\ninterdependent system.\"<\/p>\n
DeGolyer considers \"stunning\", for instance, the huge sums of
\nmoney collected by ordinary Hong Kong citizens -- believed to be
\nthe most per capita of anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n
\"Hong Kong was not harmed by this tsunami, but it was hit by
\nthe financial tsunami,\" he said. \"The people are much more aware
\nof their connections with the rest of Asia.<\/p>\n
\"The first tsunami showed that as it goes for the region, so
\nit goes for everybody and after being so badly hurt in the
\nfinancial crisis, I think Hong Kong found compassion and an
\nincreased sense of identity.\"<\/p>\n
Skeptics argue, however, that the response to the tsunami was
\nless an exercise in regional harmony and more an excuse for
\nstates to make hay from the crisis.<\/p>\n
Robert Broadfoot, risk analyst for the United States-based
\nrisk assessment company PERC, believes that the tsunami has done
\nlittle to foster Asian togetherness.<\/p>\n
\"Asia is more unified now, but it's important to understand
\nthat it is not just one big happy family,\" Broadfoot said from
\nhis Hong Kong office. \"Different countries are reacting
\ndifferently.\"<\/p>\n
Japan, he says as an example, may lead the pack in donations
\nbut it is deliberately acting in a manner that is angering China,
\na nation Broadfoot believes sees itself as the future focus of
\nAsian leadership.<\/p>\n
\"Before the tsunamis, China was the country that the world was
\nlooking to as a future Asian leader. Now Japan looks like the
\nmost efficient regional force.\"<\/p>\n
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has capitalized too on
\nthe tsunami, Broadfoot says, leveraging the praise he received
\nfor his prompt reaction to boost his poll ratings ahead of a
\nFebruary election and to shore up his claim to be regarded as
\nAsia's senior statesman.<\/p>\n
\"It's just the way of the world -- people have selfish reasons
\nfor getting involved. And sometimes it is going to compound
\nalready existing problems,\" said Broadfoot.<\/p>",
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