{"id":389,"date":"2015-07-27T07:06:29","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T07:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/?p=389"},"modified":"2015-07-27T07:06:29","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T07:06:29","slug":"li_gangzhe_chinese_dream_which_bounds_for_the_west_and_the_future_of_asia_no_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/2015\/07\/27\/li_gangzhe_chinese_dream_which_bounds_for_the_west_and_the_future_of_asia_no_1\/","title":{"rendered":"Li Gangzhe \u201c \u2018Chinese Dream\u2019 which bounds for the West and the Future of Asia (No. 1)\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 48th<\/sup> SGRA Forum (the 14th<\/sup> Japan-Korea Asia Future Forum) was held at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, Tokyo on February 7. This forum was co-sponsored by \u2018SGRA Research Association for Asia Initiative\u2019 and \u2018Japan-Korea Asia Future Forum\u2019.\u00a0 I like to report the status quo and the problem of the dynamism of rapid economic growth in Asia from a viewpoint of building of logistic systems.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The writer reported about dreams for the future of Asia and the present under the title \u201cAsian Highway Network and Regional Integration\u201d \u2013 its status quo and problems \u2013 \u201c.<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, I, as a member of National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA),\u3000 a Japanese national think tank which has been participating in research and policy recommendation about the \u201cNorth-East Asian Grand Design\u201d which is a joint project among NIRA, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement (KRIHS), and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).\u00a0 KRIHS and NDRC are think tanks of Korea and China. I have been studying for a few years now about the future, the present and the problems of the integrated logistics in North-East Asia, especially the Asia-Highway Network, Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel Plan and\u3000\u201cNorth-East Asian Logistic Network Plan\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAsian Highway Network\u201d which aggregates Asia into one has been proposed and promoted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).\u00a0 Thirty-two countries from Asia and Europe have already signed the participation agreement among these countries\u3000as of the year 2004. Starting from Nihon-bashi, Tokyo (AH1) at the east end to Istanbul at the west end, Asian countries will cooperate and together develop and realize their dreams of peace and prosperity. Of the total length of 141,714 km, 26,699 km in China were designated to the \u201cAsian Highway Network.\u201d The traffic network is planned to expand through the continental region of China, to Southeast Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, North Asia and Russia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An important idea which provides a strong impact for materialization of the Asian Highway Network was proposed by China\u2019s General Secretary, Xi Jinping . \u00a0It is called \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d (\u4e00\u5e2f\u4e00\u8def). \u00a0China would utilize the \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d idea as a new axis for the growth of its present economy, so-called \u201cNew Normal\u201d (\u65b0\u5e38\u614b), developing together with the Asian countries as a new developing \u201cBelt\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In China, they call the present situation which shows a slowdown of its economy since the spring of 2014 as \u201cNew Normal\u201d and the Xi leadership calls for the realization and acceptance of the actual situation of the Chinese economy. Based on such situation, the leadership announced economic strategies and reforms. In the economic and diplomatic relations with other countries, they announced \u201cNew Asian Grand Design\u201d (newly coined words by the writer) by the \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d slogan and are putting it into practice.\u00a0 This is a new economic and diplomatic strategy of the Xi Jinping Administration. If this plan will progress as planned, the power composition of Asia would change significantly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cNew Normal\u201d was first proposed to show a new direction of the Chinese economy for a soft landing after a slowdown. But, as long as I have watched the economic and political diplomacy during the latter half of 2014, \u201cNew Normal\u201d has been used as new diplomatic strategy of international relations which exceeded the original meaning of just new normal economic condition. Together with \u201cNew Normal\u201d, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d when he visited countries in Central Asia and South Asia where he appealed for the realization of these ideas..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d is considered as a strategic turning point in the new Asian order from the strategy of \u201cLook East\u201d to \u201cLook West\u201d.\u00a0 In other words, relations with the advanced countries like Japan and Korea and their strategic value, which China has regarded as important until now, have lowered in importance. And India, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, instead, will be targets of strategic development by China. India and China are now the two \u201cElephant and Dragon\u201d in Asia in the sense\u00a0 not only of economic development but also politically and diplomatically. They think \u201cElephant and Dragon\u201d will be the center of the future world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think such Chinese changes in diplomatic policy and the strategies for the world and Asia would cause negative impact in international relations and economic cooperation in North-East Asia. This is a big change for me \u2013 a \u201cNorth-East Asian\u201d – in the sense that it casts a shadow over my \u201cDreams and Hopes\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr. Takao Kubo, a scholar of international relations, pointed out in his mail magazine \u00a0(\u201cOrta\u201d No.133 dated January 20, 2015) \u201cA sign of reversal of North and South \/ East and West which progresses simultaneously \u2013 thereby accelerating the diastrophism of the world \u2013\u201c, signifying that \u201cAmerican hegemony is declining, the reverse of the North and the South (Advanced countries vs. Developing countries) and the reverse of the East and the West (Asia vs. America and Europe) in the world politics are developing.\u201d<\/p>\n

(to be continued)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Li Gangzhe \/ Professor, Hokuriku University)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated by Kazuo Kawamura<\/p>\n

English checked by Mac Maquito<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SGRA Kawaraban 451 in Japanese (original)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 48th SGRA Forum (the 14th Japan-Korea Asia Future Forum) was held at the National Olympics Memorial Youth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kawaraban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisf.or.jp\/sgra\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}