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Join up to face China: experts

Countries in East Asia that respect the universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights should band together to face China, which is transforming into the main security threat in the region aside from North Korea, an academic said yesterday.

The academic made the remarks at a forum held by a think tank affiliated with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) that was attended by scholars from Japan and Taiwan.

The academics said globalization, which has deepened economic interaction among countries, has exacerbated geopolitical conflicts rather than creating peace or spreading universal values.

"In the East Asia region, China and North Korea are the main concerns in terms of potential conflict, said Chang Hsi-mo (張錫模), an associate professor in the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies at National Sun Yat-sen University.

Given that North Korea has dedicated itself to developing nuclear weapons and China is expanding its military force and nurturing nationalism, they are most likely to be the initiators of conflicts in the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, which leaves other East Asian countries under the shadow of war, he added.

Kubota Nobuyuki, a professor in the Department of Education at Gakushuin Women's College, said that communist China -- which doesn't allow for the existence of organized religion -- is a country that doesn't know how to "put on the brakes".

"All [China] takes to heart is its economic and technology development and thus it always disregards values such as freedom, democracy and human rights," he said.

The forum, called "The Future of the Asia-Pacific," was hosted by the Lee Teng-hui Academy and aimed to discuss the possibility of forming an integrated "East Asia Community," a concept advocated in Japan's policy circles in recent years.

However, Cheng Ching-jen (鄭欽仁), a professor of history at National Taiwan University, said that if the Japan-sponsored "East Asia Community" comes into being, the country dominating it would be China, not Japan.

"China's economic development has led it to aim for hegemony in East Asia, which will surely exclude Taiwan's participation in the community," Cheng said.

Lee Min-yung (李敏勇), a local poet and social critic, said it would be difficult to form a community similar to the EU in East Asia, because of the different languages and religions in most countries of the region.

"Also, [a sense of] community in the region is weak," Lee said.

"Nevertheless, thanks to the average level of development in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea and their historical ties, the objective conditions for forming a community among the three countries are relatively mature," he said.

Kubota Nobuyuki said that all nations must realize the importance of preserving natural resources in the 21st century, but China has not been doing this.

"Taiwan shares the same values of freedom, democracy and human rights with Japan, and thus the two countries should enhance their cooperative relations to contribute to a prosperous future in the East Asia region," he said.
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