Asian participation in global industry affairs is essential in order to secure regional commitment to industry regulations, a shipping executive says.
Hong Kong Shipowners Association chairman Andrew Chen told the Seatrade Hong Kong Conference last week that people would not 'buy in' to decisions being made unless they were given the opportunity to have a say while drafting regulations.
'Lack of commitment is shown either in ignoring the regulations or in increased local debate about effectiveness of the regulations,' he said.
There was a ground swell of debate in Asia that was becoming more vocal and was a good indication that something was wrong.
This pointed to the deep cultural differences between East and West in dealing with issues.
While the East adopted a Confucian approach using consensus, long-term relationships and decision-making from the top, the West followed a Socratic culture where the majority rules, relationships develop after a decision is made and potential decisions are subject to challenge by all parties.
