Looking at East more meaningfully

It should be recalled that it was then Prime Minister Sir John  Kotelawala who first reached out to the East by  summoning  the  first  Asian Prime Ministers Conference in Colombo in 1955, this was followed by a conference in New Delhi, when we were all then developing  countries emerging from five centuries  of colonialism.  Then followed the famous Afro-Asian Bandung Conference at which a heated exchange took place between Nehru, Chou En Lai and Sir John on Soviet Imperialism in Eastern Europe, our relations with China however continued to be good and even got better over time, particularly during the period of the two Bandaranaikes.  Having had the privilege of visiting China only a few months ago, courtesy of the Pathfinder Foundation period, I  believe it may be both an obligation and also useful to share with our readers, some of my observations particularly because we need  to cultivate the closest of relations with this super power.

  China has experienced three revolutions in recent history, The first was in 1911 when the QUIN Dynasty collapsed ending centuries of its traditional system of governance; next came the great Communist Revolution led by Mao; and the third, if one might call it a revolution, came after the death of Mao and with the assumption of power by Deng Tsio Ping.

  The ‘Provinces’ many of them larger than countries do play a major role in decision making.  We need to understand this and plug into it than ever before. Chinese provinces, and we visited three of them recently, have immense administrative power and political influence-did not see a fracturing, but certainly of a loosening of central control. The personality cult seems to be also waning; we saw no pictures of any leaders other than Mao in Tiananmen Square; it seemed to me that individuals are taking a second place in relation to society itself deciding on policy.

There appears to be a new accountability or how does one explain the Bo bribery case where a top leader and his wife were convicted? The rule of law and due process is slowly but surely taking over with public opinion asserting itself.

We also found that China has been developing its human capital at an amazing rate. It is said to have over 300,000 Chinese students are studying in the US alone besides those in Europe. More than half the population are said to be using IT and Internet and have information on the world besides the social networking; portends a new China emerging. We must engage with her more fully and have greater people to people contacts and business relationships in a broader sense.

There is also a new dimension that is emerging – the rise of a new nationalism  both in Japan and China.However,we must steer clear of these conflicts. We should also restructure the Foreign Ministry’s division to back the Asian Affairs division placing emphasis on advancing the economic interests of our country.

Let us pull in from the private sector that is qualified in marketing. We must also reach out to the fast developing Mekong Valley countries  and that powerhouse Indonesia. We need to exchange visits and also build strong business to business contacts with all these countries more meaningfully.