Global Asia - December 2021

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Hardly a day passes without headlines on some aspect of the growing rivalry between the United States and China. After decades in which China’s embrace of the global trading system and emergence as a manufacturing powerhouse fueled optimism in the West that it was on a path to becoming a full-fledged member of the US-led international order, those expectations have crashed. Donald Trump’s fiery policies toward China and unorthodox foreign-policy style created the impression of triggering the change, but it has been long in the making and is certain to continue. The rise of Xi Jinping and his commitment to rejuvenating the Chinese Communist Party’s role in every aspect of life is one factor; another is the deep-seated conviction in the US and other Western countries that the policies of the past have failed their people, weakened the West’s place in the world and undermined the aspirations of democratic governance. For those who might have hoped that the Joe Biden administration would bring about a lessening in tensions, a stark reality is setting in: the US and China are now in a long-term contest for global influence that spans a multitude of issues, involving geopolitics, geo-economics, technology and values. China is no longer willing to be a silent participant in a US-dominated global system. It is actively, at times aggressively, staking its claim to global leadership and contesting even the very system of democracy that the West has taken for granted. In this issue’s cover package, we examine the comprehensive tableau of the US-China rivalry. In these articles, some of the world’s leading scholars in a wide range of areas and representing a variety of countries offer insights to the complexities at play in this global contest, but also point to how tensions between Washington and Beijing can be mitigated, if not resolved...

Global Asia Magazine Description:

Global Asia is a quarterly publication of the East Asia Foundation. The foundation, established in Seoul in January 2005, strives to promote peace, prosperity, security and sustainability in East Asia by creating an open and creative forum for the exchange of ideas on regional co-operation and integration, among other goals.
The mission we have set for ourselves with Global Asia is both bold and urgent: It is to provide a compelling, serious, and responsible forum for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
Global Asia is not a journal with a fixed point of view, or a particular agenda. Our aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia. In our pages and on our web site, we aim for Asia to speak to the world, and the world to Asia. That is important at a time when this region is playing an ever greater role in world affairs.
There are other fine publications on international affairs. What sets us apart is our focus: Asia. We believe that the world is moving into “the Age of Asia,” to borrow a phrase from one of the articles in the inaugural issue of Global Asia in September 2006. This transformation is not going to occur overnight, but it has already begun.
The region’s dynamic economic growth, stable and accountable political systems, maturing democracies, and evolving sense of community are giving Asia greater weight in the world. These developments will have enormous implications for governments, businesses, societies and individuals across the globe. How that transformation is viewed, and shaped, from within Asia and how it is perceived outside Asia is an essential part of the story we have to tell.
The forces of globalization are having a profound impact throughout the world. And they are being influenced and channeled in different ways in different parts of the world. Ours is the story of Asia’s experience with globalization, and the ideas and debates influencing it. In pursuing our mission, we aim to play a part, however modest, in helping to shape the future of Asia.