Упрощенная HTML-версия
http://interaffairs.ru
Author : K. Vnukov
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Korea,
Candidate of Science (History)
It is equally important to know what the Asians think about their re-
gion: whether they treat it as an integrated actor of world politics
and economics or as an imagined entity created by the added-up po-
tentials of the coastal Pacific states, the impressive, objective and real
economic progress of which gladden the eye.
An international conference "East Asia in the World: Prospects and
Challenges" held in February 2011 in Seoul attracted 700 participants
from the region's countries. The fact that it was held in the Republic
of Korea speaks volumes. In several decades, this country closed the
gap between its backward and military-totalitarian past and its pres-
ent place among the world's 15 economically and politically most de-
veloped countries.
It is important to know what the Asians think about their region: whether they treat it as an in-
tegrated actor of world politics and economics or as an imagined entity created by the added-up
potentials of the coastal Pacific states.
Cooperation in the security sphere was trailing behind because of disagreements over the past
events, territorial disputes on land and at sea, while the limited mutual trust (much more pro-
nounced there than elsewhere in the world) intensifies the arms race.
Those who favor the Western or the so-called liberal theory of unification of states recommend
three components: political democratization, profound economic interdependence and viable
institutions conducive to multisided cooperation. The former foreign minister argues that Pax
Democratica, the first of the three components, one of Washington's instruments and the core
of European integration, cannot be applied, at least for some time, in East Asia, a patchwork of
political systems.
So far, East Asia, a mixture of states of highly different sizes, development levels and political
and economic systems, can hardly profit from a code of norms and rules similar to those which
keep the OSCE members together and which are a sine qua non of unification. It is a question
of the distantFUTURE for the region.
A few words about Russia. The materials quoted above as well as contributions at other inter-
national forums refer to Russia in passing. The contributors to the January discussion published
in the International Affairs journal quite rightly pointed to this. Our politicians, diplomats, busi-
nessmen, and academics should work actively and persistently in bilateral and multilateral formats
to remove the clinging stereotypes of the Cold War to reveal a positive image of a modern and
democratic country attractive for businessmen and prepared to contribute to the common efforts
to address the region's political and economic problems.
Which Asia Is Russia Integrating Into?