Sir,
Kishore Mahbubari is right that Europe must start learning lessons from Asia, but the question remains: what and from whom? Asia is after all a big continent.
One lesson the EU certainly could learn from the histories of Japan and South Korea – and contemporary experience in China, Vietnam and India – is that the liberal economic nostrums of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are a myth. These countries took off – or are taking off – with protection in place for their infant industries, together with a variety of state aid and imperfect market economies. The success of this strategy can be measured by the ‘deep’ free trade agreement (FTA) signed by Korea and the EU in July, which will earn both parties several billion euros a year, and the de facto agreement at the EU-Japan summit in May to open negotiations on an economic partnership that could create a virtual single market within a decade.
China’s current engagement with Africa could teach the EU another valuable lesson. While Africans are not entirely happy with the way China operates, it has sparked a genuine interest in their continent and is seen as preferable to the European alternative.
As for the environment, Europe has yet to learn that it cannot load Asian manufacturers with the whole burden of their CO2 emissions when the goods they are producing are consumed in Europe. The polluter pays principle already established the need for consumers to pay as much, if not more, than producers when it comes to protecting the planet from climate change. Why should Chinese or Indian workers who are struggling to break free from centuries of poverty shoulder the responsibilities of affluent Europeans?
There are, of course, one or two things Europe shouldn’t learn from Asia. Pakistan's role as the world leader in nuclear proliferation is one example, and the over-exploitation of Asia’s vast natural resources is another. By their mismanagement, certain Asian governments are proving that Nietzsche’s dictum: 'Madness is rare in individuals, but common in parties, groups and organisations' applies to them too.