Opinion | The foundations for an East Asian Union, based on shared culture and historical links, are in place. We just need the political will
- If European nations could overcome their historical differences and cooperate under the banner of a common continental identity, East Asian countries can, too. A pan-Asian union would be an effective counterpoint to US influence in the region
Rooted in the shared cultural and historical experience of China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, which might by some commentators today be termed “Asian values”, the ideal of Pan-Asian collaboration was admired by icons of China’s own modernisation movement such as Sun Yat-sen and Lu Xun.
Though the Pan-Asian concept was tarnished by the experience of Japanese military adventurism – the Japanese argued that the true motive for expansionism was to rid Asia of European colonial powers – its focus on regional collaboration, solidarity, and joint economic and military development responsive to Asian needs and perspectives remains deeply relevant in today’s tumultuous regional geopolitics.
From a European perspective, it is surprising that long-standing disputes between various East Asian states remain intractable. Decades of institutional and economic integration in Europe have established a zone of peace in which serious political or military conflict is unthinkable. In the arc of two generations, the threat of war has been entirely eliminated from the continent.
The European Union, though far from perfect, was built on common cultural and political norms shared by its member states. Similarly, East Asian countries have profound ethnic, cultural and historical links that could form the basis for closer regional collaboration.