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Asia has contributed 60% of global economic growth over the past decade, and already become the prime driving force in the global economy. At the same time, Asia’s role is changing, from follower and chaser gradually, to pioneer and leader. At this key point, 2020, we look back on the past, and gaze into the future, with proposals for how to advance in Asia in the decade ahead.
The first is quickening the footsteps of regional integration and the establishment of regional mechanisms. A fragmenting tendency has recently shown up within globalization with energies for regional integration risen. While E.U. and North America show less than positive prospects in their own integration, Asian regional integration can be hoped to achieve a tangible expansion in the short and middle-term. As negotiations advance for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Asia shall establish the largest-population and most developmentally dynamic Free Trade arrangements. The completion of the RCEP will also push China-Korea-Japan regional cooperation that one step further. These developments will doubtless speed up the progress of Asian integration.
The second is the achievement of breakthroughs in the development of new technology, where Asia is set to gain a leading scientific role. The first sprouts of this trend have appeared in the realms of 5G, quantum communication and in artificial intelligence.
Third is the great reduction in geopolitical dangers. Such dangers have influenced the mutual-trust and cooperation among Asian countries, but following the improvement in China-Japanese and China-Indian relations, and other major states, as well as the easing of the Korean Peninsula situation and a cooling off in issues relating to the South China Sea, Asian geopolitical dangers have clearly been cut down on, which will doubtless benefit Asian stability and development.
Fourth is the shifting political models among Asian countries. With economic developments, scientific advances, changes in population structure, advances in urbanization and industrialization, Asian countries are undergoing a transition from development to management, which requires they search for more polyvalent and more effective management models with the characteristics of this age, to enrich the content of Asian management models.
Fifth is the spread of the “Asian Style”. The flourishing social economy, expanding middle class, the rise in the proportion of the young receiving an education, and demands on innovation, are all set to spur on Asia to direct a commercial model on a global scale, as well as a popular culture and a lifestyle, so the “Asian Style” will have a global influence.
Sixth, the rise in standards for constructing an ecological civilization. Development in many Asian countries has at one point come at the cost of a sacrificed environment, for which reason the Asia in the decade ahead will pay more attention to questions of management concerning the natural environment, which indicates a sea change in production and means of living. The establishment of an ecological civilization will increase the appeal of Asia’s cities and villages.
