Two-fifths of Asian exports, and rising, are intra-regional even if half that share forms part of a global supply-chain anchored in the West. But the political process may in the end prove even more profound. The region must see that the simultaneous rise of two continent-sized big powers is peaceful. A main issue is whether or when China will seek to regain its historical role as East Asian leader. Another is whether India has definitively left the problems of its subcontinent behind it, or will again be held back by the bitter disputes with its neighbours.
The chief Asian project will be to enmesh both countries into a broader set of economic and security norms, while ensuring a continued security presence for the United States, still the regions top dog in military terms.
Failure would put paid to notions of an Asian century. Asian values So why Banyan A dearth of pan-Asian images speaks volumes, but the banyan tree serves better than most, for it or similar trees are found somewhere in most Asian countries. The banyan spans Asias spirituality and its entrepreneurialism. The Bodhi tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment, was a banyan by another name.
Gujarati merchants conducted business under it, and the Portuguese lent their name, banyan, to the tree. It stuck. In early March, in Perak in Malaysia, the state assembly convened an emergency session under a tree. It was, said outraged national ministers, a return to the jungle, making Malaysia a laughing-stock.
We beg to differ. An ancient connection exists between public business and the banyan tree, as between its huge overarching shade and its deep intertwining roots. In South-East Asia, and Java in particular, the shade was a place of learning and a site where rulers vowed justice.
Those are Asian values to which Banyan will happily subscribe. The bayonet has always trumped the ballot. This time, the civilians were allowed to continue in office. Not that anyone is celebrating.
There is still much feverish talk that the elections, somehow, will not be allowed to take place, though it is hard to see what could stop them now. The government and parliament completed their five year terms on March 16th. Now an interim government, led by a caretaker prime minister, is supposed to be installed for a two-month period, so that a neutral administration can oversee the election. If the deadlock continues to the end of the week, the issue will be handed over to the independent Election Commission to decide, in a move that would be seen as a failure of democratic bargaining.
Some fear that a caretaker prime minister not chosen by the politicians could perhaps be persuaded by the military to just continue in office without the bother of elections. Mr Musharraf had planned to stay on as president, which is supposedly a ceremonial position, but he was eased out after that election by Mr Zardari, who replaced him.
A veteran international correspondent, he was based in Singapore for many years as The Economist's Banyan Columnist, covering Asia. He remains a leading journalist and commentator on the Asia region.
Banyan touches on many of the critical issues shaping Asia's future, including economic and political integration, climate change and competition for resources. Prior to his time stationed in India, he spent two years working on economist. He had returned to London in to become Finance and Economics editor having been Southeast Asia correspondent based in Bangkok. At The Economist, he was also a writer for Global Agenda, economist.
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