Symposium Addendum
- Transmitting New Messages from Asia for Building a
New World Order -
How shall we grasp
the present era in which we live? Has the end of Cold War brought about
the "end of history" as stated by Francis Fukuyama? The actual
world seems to move in an opposite direction. For example, the problem
of Bosnia-Herzegovia has entered a cul-de-sac with no exit in sight,
and many people die from hunger everyday in Africa, especially in Rwanda.
It is a real sight. When we think about these situations, it does not
mean the end of history, but it means that the world has entered into
an era of chaos and disorder, and it gives us a greater impact. And
this fact indicates that the liberal democracies that alone survived
after the collapse of the Cold War will not necessarily come to the
key for opening up our future either. Now, then, what do we need as
we move toward the 21st century?
Here, I would like
to reflect on history with the use of the concepts of "Age of Progress"
and "Age of Harmony." In order to have the wheels of history
move forward, both progress and harmony are necessary, but given the
situation that the world finds itself today, I would like to address
the question of where we should place the weight in the vector.
The modern Western
civilization with the Industrial Revolution of the 18-century as its
starting point can be understood as "Age of Progress." Liberalism
and capitalism are its two wheels, with a powerful support provided
by science and technology verified through experiments. At the same
time, however, this modern Western civilization always required a rival
that they must overcome through competition, for universalizing their
own ideology. Also, it was often necessary to externalize the internal
contradictions within the Western societies to the external world, as
a means for this universalizing process. We can see these appearance
in imperialistic ideas and colonial rule. Now, when we consider that
era was the "Age of Progress," precisely because competitors
existed outside of them, and because they had to strive to beat and
win over such competitors, science and technology made dramatic progress.
And we are enjoying a lot of fruits of such progress in science and
technology today.
On the other hand,
what are the phenomena produced by this modern scientific civilization
in its shadow? Because so much weight was placed upon progress and development,
it gave rise to environmental problems of global scope. Furthermore,
it created 4 billion people of the "South" who cannot enjoy
the benefits of modern science (here, we may say, "who cannot receive
the dividend of progress). And, that science and technology which has
been a motive force for progress, is now entering into a certain "stalemate,"
and it is likely to require a considerable amount of time before the
next period of big leaps will come.
For this reason, I
believe that what we need to do is slowing down the wheel of history
and make a shift from the "Age of Progress" to "Age of
Harmony." That is, should we not place a little more weight on
the side of "harmony"? In the coming "Age of Harmony,"
what we need to do first is to "correct the wide gap" that
exist for the people in the South who have been left out of the benefits
of the "Age of Progress." We need to moderate the speed of
progress for the rich people of the North, and achieve a "bottom-up"
for the poor people in the South.
Recently, we often
hear a word, it means that northern countries are getting tired of giving
foreign aid. People living developed countries is thinking that it is
the best choice for them to ignore the ragged human, and it seems to
true sentiment. Even as television show horrendous pictures of sufferings
in Africa frequently, most Americans, Europeans and Japanese have lost
the spirit of staring squarely at that reality. Even less, do they feel
the motivation to extend their hand to those people who have been left
behind.
However, such apathy
and lack of concern will be very difficult to maintain, for three reasons:
First of all, the change in the population composition which are under
way now will create the enormous flow of immigration from the South
toward the North in which we can see aging and declining in the population.
Secondly, there is the environmental problem. Even if the additional
pollution is caused by the South, the result will be global in scope,
and it will take a effect toward north countries as well. Thirdly, some
unstable countries of the South can obtain weapons, and these weapons
will be a threat and a violence directly and indirectly to the North
through "terrorism." At the present time, there are various
de -stabilizing factors in the world, and they are discussed as a problem
of racial and territorial disputes, conflicts involving differences
in culture and civilizations, but many of the problems are rooted fundamentally
from the deep poverty of the South. I cannot help but think that even
the fundamentalist Islam movement, too, occurs largely as the outlet
for people's frustrations about inability to enjoy comfort and affluence,
and for a despair with no visible solution in sight.
Next, what system
is suitable to realize a harmonization of wealth between the South and
the North? I believe that there is what we may call the "Asian
model." At present, the market economy is expanding rapidly among
the East Asian countries. After Japan took-off first, it was followed
by Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore (NIES areas), and now, the
vitality has spread to ASEAN countries. And next, these early starting
countries of Asia are directing those vitality toward China and Vietnam
with the multiplex form. We should use this collective vitality toward
westward from East Asia. Borrowing a term from Islam, we should begin
a "jihad" or holy war. This war is not executed for the rise
and fall of nations, nor for the rise and fall of civilizations; it
is a war against poverty. East Asia will direct its capability to West
Asia, Western Europe should direct its capability to the east and across
the Mediterranean to the south, and the United States and Canada should
direct its vitality and capability to the South Africa. In geopolitical
terms, we may consider this to be an appropriate division of labor worldwide.
In response to such
an effort, some among East Asian countries may object as follows: "Our
countries have just made the first step of progress, and we are far
below the level of developed countries. We are fully occupied with the
need to think about our own situation." However, we should consider
the following points in looking at this. What has brought about the
present prosperity? Certainly, a large part is based upon our own uninterrupted
efforts, and our own identity. But, on the other hand, there is not
a few that each of our countries has learned from a more advanced civilization.
In historical terms, all countries and the civilizations that stand
behind them, have been built upon the earlier civilizations. And when
we look at the situation of North Korea and Cuba, etc., we can see clearly
the futuristic figure of any country that is isolated. Put another way,
for each country's development and well-being, it is necessary for nations
to understand the two thoughts, the first one is that we think raising
the country's level through its own efforts, and the second one is that
we think it through the existence of other countries which give us present
prosperity. Our thinking needs to pay attention to both these thoughts.
Thus, when there are countries that are more impoverished than our own
country, then, do we not need to have the spirit of extending some support,
however modest that may be. We should look back upon our own histories.
When the countries
of East Asia turn their eyes toward the world of Islam, there are countries
with different religions and social and political systems, and we may
anticipate some difficulties in terms of the method of promoting assistance.
The Islamic countries of Indonesia and Malaysia are well-situated to
serve as the bridges, and the example of their success is likely to
carry a large significance. With the successful results of these countries
, we can think of breaking down the technologies for Islamic world.
The technology which has been transferred from the developed countries
to the Islamic countries of East Asia become acclimatized to Islam by
being used and improved locally. And aside from the funds for assistance,
by having such technology go to Islamic countries, it is likely that
their allergic reactions they may feel toward the developed countries
may be moderated considerably.
If Asian countries
with differences in race, political system, culture and religion, can
implement such joint work, then, this can become an Asian Model, a new
system based upon diverse cultures, which East Asia can communicate
and present to the world. And the role that Japan should play, as a
technologically developed country, is to build in "environmental
policy" into the technology, or in a broader sense, to build in
the "heart" for controlling such technology. If Japan can
show a good example in this, then, Asian countries are likely to say
really "Look East" to Japan.
When the developed
countries promote the "war" against poverty, and when this
challenge bear definite fruits, then, we can again steer history in
the direction of progress, for the construction of the 21st century
civilization.
|
