Global Asia Magazine - June 2022

In this issue

The impact of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has dramatically illustrated just how interconnected our world is. From crude oil to grains and fertilizers to semiconductors and spare parts for manufactured goods, almost every part of the global economy has been affected. Even the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia have boomeranged around the world, driving up prices, depressing corporate profits and cratering economic growth. Europe’s most devastating land war since 1945 has shown that conflict in one part of the world can exact a price even on innocent bystanders far from the battlefield. One of the most significant long-term effects will be on security arrangements and defense policies as governments come to grips with how Russia’s attack on Ukraine calls for serious rethinking. In this issue’s cover package, we look at how the war has triggered widespread debate in Asia about risks for the region and ways to mitigate them. The most immediate, and perhaps superficial, response was to wonder whether Taiwan could become Asia’s Ukraine, particularly given the statement issued in Beijing by Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the eve of the invasion, calling for a new world order not dominated by the United States. Past statements by Beijing that it might retake Taiwan by force if necessary lent credibility for some to speculation that Taiwan could be the next victim of a military assault...

Global Asia Magazine Description:

Global Asia is a quarterly publication of the East Asia Foundation. The foundation, established in Seoul in January 2005, strives to promote peace, prosperity, security and sustainability in East Asia by creating an open and creative forum for the exchange of ideas on regional co-operation and integration, among other goals.
The mission we have set for ourselves with Global Asia is both bold and urgent: It is to provide a compelling, serious, and responsible forum for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
Global Asia is not a journal with a fixed point of view, or a particular agenda. Our aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia. In our pages and on our web site, we aim for Asia to speak to the world, and the world to Asia. That is important at a time when this region is playing an ever greater role in world affairs.
There are other fine publications on international affairs. What sets us apart is our focus: Asia. We believe that the world is moving into “the Age of Asia,” to borrow a phrase from one of the articles in the inaugural issue of Global Asia in September 2006. This transformation is not going to occur overnight, but it has already begun.
The region’s dynamic economic growth, stable and accountable political systems, maturing democracies, and evolving sense of community are giving Asia greater weight in the world. These developments will have enormous implications for governments, businesses, societies and individuals across the globe. How that transformation is viewed, and shaped, from within Asia and how it is perceived outside Asia is an essential part of the story we have to tell.
The forces of globalization are having a profound impact throughout the world. And they are being influenced and channeled in different ways in different parts of the world. Ours is the story of Asia’s experience with globalization, and the ideas and debates influencing it. In pursuing our mission, we aim to play a part, however modest, in helping to shape the future of Asia.