|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Anti-US sentiment on the rise in Asia WASHINGTON - Anti-American sentiment is rising in Asia, in sharp contrast with the dramatic improvement in government-to-government ties between the United States and the region, experts told a forum convened to gauge America's role in Asia. "In fact I would say that anti-American sentiment is growing at a disturbing rate and has never been that bad as it has become today," former senior South Korean diplomat Kim Kyongwon told the conference in Washington. He said US-Northeast Asia inter-governmental relations at present had blossomed to 'unprecedented' levels, with Washington close to governments in China, South Korea and Japan. But the story is different if one goes out onto the streets, noted Kim, a former envoy to the United Nation and United States. "This is rather surprising because there is huge gap between formal inter-governmental institutions and the popular public man-on-the-street perceptions," said Kim, now the president of the Seoul Forum for International Affairs, a private group. He said anti-Americanism in Northeast Asia could have resulted from democratization and the 'connection' between rising nationalism and democracy. In South Asia, the United States is equally unpopular with the masses. "For the first time in 50 years, relations between the US and all the countries in the region, notably India and Pakistan, have been good and yet, paradoxically, the US has never been more unpopular than it is today," said Farooq Sobhan, a retired senior diplomat from Bangladesh. Sobhan said the US invasion of Iraq, its policy in the Mideast and the recent Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal involving American soldiers contributed 'to this strong, growing hostility towards the United States.' "The fact that the United States opted to go to war without a second UN resolution did have a profound effect on the region, which is one reason why there are no South Asian troops in Iraq today," said Sobhan, the president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, an independent think tank. Tommy Koh, Singapore's ambassador at large, told the forum that southeast Asian governments perceived the United States as a 'benign superpower' although "I do worry that there is growing disconnect between the favourable attitude of the governments and the less favourable attitude of the people." The three experts had led workshop discussions among policy-makers and scholars in their respective regions on 'America's role in Asia: Perspectives from Asia' and presented their findings with their comments Tuesday at the forum organised by Asia Foundation. The San Francisco-based foundation is a non-governmental organisation which supports programs in Asia that help improve governance and law, economic reform and development, women's participation and international relations. Kim warned the growth of anti-American sentiment was a 'serious matter.' "If you try to be a leader in the context in which the people disapproved of what you are doing, you are bound to be ineffective and bound to pay a much extra cost to achieve what you set out to achieve," he said. Kim advised the United States, the only remaining superpower after the breakup of the Soviet Union, to 'lead well' and 'gain a philosophical understanding of and empathy for the people of the changing countries" in Asia. Sobhan suggested the United States develop a long term strategy in its relations with South Asia based on a comprehensive approach rather than focused on security. "Critical to this exercise is that we need to be approached in a more inclusive manner," he said. "The US propensity towards unilateral action, to put it bluntly, is deeply resented in South Asia," he added. Sobhan called for greater interaction between the United States and Asia. Koh said Southeast Asia wanted the United States "To show us a little more love and respect. "The Chinese are courting us with love and respect, the Japanese are courting us with love, respect and money and the Indians are courting us with love, respect and history," he said. Koh proposed that US and Southeast Asia hold a summit, emulating the region's annual summits with China, Japan, South Korea and India. (AFP) |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
