Asia urged to take lead on global challenges

Asia must take a leading role in tackling pressing global issues and cope with the impact of rapid growth to preserve its long-term prosperity, regional officials and business leaders said Sunday.
Despite its economic success, Asia is still perceived by the international "Today there is a perception that when you take Japan, China, India, (South) Korea, Southeast Asia, the common things shared by the different countries are not substantial enough," Ghosn said at the start of the two-day forum attended by about 300 delegates.
"People would like to know how all these countries are going to be able to establish one agenda, one common agenda, particularly to address some of the common concerns that the world has," he said.
In her opening address to the forum, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo said the region had a number of able leaders as well as institutions such as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that give it direction.
"The real issue is the rapid economic rise of the region at a time when the global order has undergone enormous swings," she said, citing the rise of China and India as well as the influence of "the global war on terrorism" on the US role in the world.
"The US is the major political and military player. It has been preoccupied in the Middle East, in Iraq, in other crisis areas. This has left the perception of a leadership deficit in Asia," she said. China and Japan have "stepped up their game," notably over the crisis on the Korean peninsula, she said. China and Japan are among six nations which have held talks aimed at resolving a stand-off over North Korea's nuclear programme.
"Yet this is the interim game: The real issue is how the region will handle the next 20 or 40 years," Arroyo said, calling for Japan to play a leading role in promoting the integration and security of East Asia. "We would also like to see Japan playing a leading role in contributing to integration in the region, and maintaining and pursuing international peace and security as we try to forge the East Asia community," she said.
Japan, China and India are active in the East Asia Summit, which promotes community building and a political, economic and security dialogue between ASEAN and its regional partners. The leadership obligations of China and India will also increase along with their economic might, Arroyo added.
She said the region faced a series of contradictions including increased integration and prosperity that exists alongside the likelihood of greater income disparity.
"Balancing these contradictions will be the test of leadership in the region," she said.
Other delegates also cited income disparities and said key problems faced by the world's fastest-growing region included urban congestion, poor education, and inadequate infrastructure.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said urbanisation was giving rise to political and economic problems as well as ethnic and religious tensions, and stressed the importance of urban leadership for Asia's future.
Yeo said almost three billion people, mostly in China and India, are joining the global marketplace, and "it will be in the cities where all these problems will be concentrated." "Cities can either become shining nodes of globalisation or they can become festering grounds for violence, crime, extremism, unhappiness," he added. Ghosn said the only point at issue was how Asia is going to assume global leadership, and how fast.
"There is no doubt that... this century is going to be the Asian century," Ghosn said. "We are still at the beginning of the century. You still have 92 years to go."