Tsunami disaster stirs debate on Asian unity

Tsunami disaster stirs debate on Asian unity

Mark McCord, Agence France-Presse/Hong Kong

The Asian tsunami disaster has been a uniquely continental catastrophe, striking hard from Thailand to the Maldives, and has stirred debate about how Asia should react as a region.

As well as demonstrating an ability to work together at a time of trouble, Asian nations' responses to the tragedy suggested old foes were prepared to put their historic enmity aside for the greater good.

For instance, Japan has sent to Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh region the largest overseas military deployment since World War II without incurring warnings of renewed militancy that its other foreign sorties have attracted.

Also, China has sought to demonstrate an Asian statesman role commensurate with its rising economic stature by making huge donations to the region-wide relief effort.

India, which was once on the brink of war with neighbor Sri Lanka, has won over hearts and minds in both nations with its prompt display of generosity towards its former rival's relief effort.

And the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) managed, within two weeks of the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster, to shake off its reputation as an ineffectual talking shop with the hasty arrangement of a multi-national relief summit in Jakarta.

In grief and tragedy, could the region finally be showing the sort of unity Asian statesmen like Singapore founding father Lee Kwan Yew and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had long dreamed of?

"I wouldn't say this brought Asia together, but it was the first time a united Asia was able to display its bonds," says Michael DeGolyer, professor of politics at Hong Kong's Baptist University.

"I think what it shows is that the region has learned from the previous tsunami -- the Asian financial crisis -- that it cannot see itself as a collection of states; it is part of an interdependent system."

DeGolyer considers "stunning", for instance, the huge sums of money collected by ordinary Hong Kong citizens -- believed to be the most per capita of anywhere in the world.

"Hong Kong was not harmed by this tsunami, but it was hit by the financial tsunami," he said. "The people are much more aware of their connections with the rest of Asia.

"The first tsunami showed that as it goes for the region, so it goes for everybody and after being so badly hurt in the financial crisis, I think Hong Kong found compassion and an increased sense of identity."

Skeptics argue, however, that the response to the tsunami was less an exercise in regional harmony and more an excuse for states to make hay from the crisis.

Robert Broadfoot, risk analyst for the United States-based risk assessment company PERC, believes that the tsunami has done little to foster Asian togetherness.

"Asia is more unified now, but it's important to understand that it is not just one big happy family," Broadfoot said from his Hong Kong office. "Different countries are reacting differently."

Japan, he says as an example, may lead the pack in donations but it is deliberately acting in a manner that is angering China, a nation Broadfoot believes sees itself as the future focus of Asian leadership.

"Before the tsunamis, China was the country that the world was looking to as a future Asian leader. Now Japan looks like the most efficient regional force."

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has capitalized too on the tsunami, Broadfoot says, leveraging the praise he received for his prompt reaction to boost his poll ratings ahead of a February election and to shore up his claim to be regarded as Asia's senior statesman.

"It's just the way of the world -- people have selfish reasons for getting involved. And sometimes it is going to compound already existing problems," said Broadfoot.