{"id":1693,"date":"2012-10-18T05:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T19:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=1693"},"modified":"2012-10-19T08:10:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T22:10:05","slug":"toward-an-asian-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/toward-an-asian-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Toward an Asian Century?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Map<\/a><\/figure>\n

Back in 1970, Time<\/em> magazine ran an article entitled \u2018Toward the Japanese Century\u2019. More recently, in 2005 Mark Leonard was writing about the \u2018European Century\u2019. Today you\u2019d be hard pressed to find anyone who\u2019d envisage a \u2018Japanese Century\u2019 or, Nobel Peace Prize notwithstanding, a European one.<\/p>\n

But both these ideas got me thinking about the term \u2018Asian Century\u2019 which is currently all the rage in Canberra. What do we mean by it and will we still be talking about it in forty years from now or even five years from now?<\/p>\n

The term is of course best known in connection to the government\u2019s upcoming Asian Century White Paper<\/em> which has been preceded by \u2018Asian Century\u2019 essay competitions, community events and blogs. The term now litters newspaper columns and even university courses. It has become an overnight clich\u00e9, but has received little scrutiny.<\/p>\n

When exactly did the \u2018Asian Century\u2019 begin and when will it end? Indeed, what do we mean by Asia? These points may appear glib, but they important; after all our language frames our enquiry.<\/p>\n

The idea of a country or a region owning a century goes back to a Life<\/em> magazine article written by Henry Luce in 1941, in which he called for the creation of \u2018the first great American century\u2019 Luce\u2019s rhetoric suggests that he saw the United States as the successor of European civilisation. Today Presidential candidates speak of a \u2018new American century\u2019. Certainly no one in the US speaks of an Asian Century because the term implies at best a marginalisation of American power.<\/p>\n

Herein lays the problem. The term is agenda driven; it is not neutral. Those who refer to the \u2018Asian Century\u2019, such as Professor Hugh White, tend to use it to argue that the era of uncontested US primacy is at an end. Conversely those who advocate renewed American engagement in the region, including the Americans themselves, tend to cling to idea of the \u2018Asia-Pacific\u2019.<\/p>\n

The term \u2018Asian Century\u2019 is a good use of language in some ways and bad in others. It is good because it has broadened the debate. It is a convenient short hand to get the broader public thinking about the region, its potential future and Australia\u2019s place in it. We should thank Hugh White for this; he more than anyone else in many years has restored strategy to a central role in the public conversation.<\/p>\n

However, the term has its drawbacks because it seeks to frame that debate within certain parameters. An \u2018Asian Century\u2019 presupposes that the US will be either unable or unwilling to continue exercise pre-eminence. It is far from clear that this is the case. Indeed, all indications are that Washington today is more committed to the region than it has been for a generation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the US that is marginalised by the term \u2018Asian Century\u2019\u2014Australia is undoubtedly a Pacific nation but our credentials as an Asian one are shaky at best. A recent conference entitled \u2018Australia in China\u2019s Century\u2019 only heightened the sense of Australia as a bit player in the affairs of greater states.<\/p>\n

At its worst, the term may foster group think and narrow the debate. This is not to say that it doesn\u2019t serve a purpose but at the very least we should consider exactly what that purpose is.<\/p>\n

Finally, there is a certain hubris in the idea or writing history before it takes place. Perhaps it is better to leave off this pre-emptive labelling of centuries altogether.<\/p>\n

Cam Hawker is a lecturer in Political and International Studies at the UNSW (ADFA) and vice-president of the ACT Branch of the AIIA. Image courtesy of Flickr user falco500<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 1970, Time magazine ran an article entitled \u2018Toward the Japanese Century\u2019. More recently, in 2005 Mark Leonard was writing about the \u2018European Century\u2019. 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