The Rise of China and India: A New Asian Drama

178 Pages·2009·0.98 MB·English

by  Lam Peng Er

The Rise of
China india
a
n
d
A New Asian Drama
TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
The Rise of
China india
a
n
d
A New Asian Drama
Lam Peng Er
Lim Tai Wei
East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore
World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TAIPEI • CHENNAI
Published by
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
THE RISE OF CHINA AND INDIA
A New Asian Drama
Copyright © 2009 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN-13 978-981-4280-33-4
ISBN-10 981-4280-33-X
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore.
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Acknowledgements
The genesis of this book was based on the Mahatma Gandhi–Daisaku
Ikeda Peace Research Conference on “The Rise of China and India:
Towards a Harmonious Region?” in August 2008. This conference
was organized by the East Asian Institute (EAI), Singapore and gen-
erously sponsored by Lam Kin-chung Morning Sun Charity Fund and
Dr Ho Hau Wong.
Besides our profound thanks to our sponsors, the editors are also
grateful to Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman of EAI, Professor Zheng
Yongnian, Director of EAI and Professor John Wong, Director of
Research at EAI for their kind support to bring this project into
fruition. We extend our appreciation to the World Scientific editorial
team for bringing this edited volume out in a timely manner.
v
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Contents
Acknowledgements v
Chapter 1 Introduction: China, India and the 1
New Asian Drama
Lam Peng Er and Lim Tai Wei
Chapter 2 The Rise of China: Conflict or Harmony 11
in East Asia?
Ding Dou
Chapter 3 Emerging India and China: Potentials 21
and Constraints
K. M. Seethi
Chapter 4 The Rise of China and India and Its 39
Implications for Southeast Asia:
A Philippine Perspective
Noel M. Morada
Chapter 5 Negotiating the Rise of Asia — A Perspective 59
from Malaysia’s Relations with India
and China
Johan Saravanamuttu
vii
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viii ✦✦ Contents
Chapter 6 A Japanese Perspective on the Rise of China 79
and India: Opportunities, Concerns,
and Potential Threats
Minoru Koide
Chapter 7 The Rise of China and India: Geo-political 99
Narratives from the Singapore Perspective
Lim Tai Wei
Chapter 8 The Rise of China and India and Its 127
Implications for Southeast Asia:
A Thai Perspective
Prapat Thepchatree
Bibliography 147
Index 161
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Chapter 1
Introduction: China, India
and the New Asian Drama
Lam Peng Er and Lim Tai Wei
In 1968, Karl Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish economist, politician and
Nobel laureate wrote his landmark study Asian Drama: An Inquiry
into the Poverty of Nations.1This work pessimistically analyzed the dif-
ficulties of development in South Asia and the widening gap between
rich and poor nations, and concluded that the Asian drama could well
turn out to be a tragedy. In the same year the Asian Drama was pub-
lished, India was mired in economic stagnation and Maoist China was
in the throes of the self-inflicted Cultural Revolution. Few could have
imagined from the vantage point of 1968 that barely four decades later
a new and contrarian Asian Drama would unfold — the rise of China
and India on the global stage. Both countries are emerging economic
power houses, autonomous great powers in their respective regions,
and are major civilizations. Indeed, they have exercised cultural “soft
power” in Southeast Asia for more than a millennium. In 2008, China
put on a spectacular display and a great feat of organization at the
Beijing Summer Olympics and succeeded in stunning and wooing a
global audience.
The importance of these two Asian giants can hardly be exagger-
ated. Combined, their population comprises more than a third of
1 Karl Gunnar Myrdal, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations,
3 Vols.(New York: Pantheon Books, 1968).
1