America is missing out in ‘Asianization of Asia’
Nikkei Asian Review |
By Peter Guest
Author and commentator Parag Khanna had to stop himself from updating his text every five minutes as he made finishing touches to his latest book last year. The relentless flow of headlines, mostly driven by U.S. President Donald Trump's habit of making policy on the hoof and announcing it on social media, meant Khanna had an almost unending stream of material in support of his thesis that the West, and America in particular, really does not understand the rise of Asia on the world stage.
According to the book, "The Future is Asian", the consequence of that failure of understanding, and the U.S. government's confrontational approach to China, will be the "Asianization of Asia". That, he explains, means greater economic and political interdependence between Asian countries, and a return to a historical multipolarity, where no single nation has hegemonic dominance of the region.