View from Delhi: Rise of Asia and Indo-Pacific in New Global Order

How the rise of Asia and the Indo-Pacific is affecting the global order and contributing to multipolarity is being widely discussed. A closer look at what this really means is required, writes Kanwal Sibal, former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington.

Global order means peace and security and an authority to maintain that internationally. Theoretically, the UN is tasked with that role and authority. But it has proved to be ineffective.

Whatever the "order" that exists is the product of US and European powers. Asia has had no role in its establishment. When the framework of this "order" was established, Asia was still largely colonised. Japan had been defeated and had not risen. South Korea was a poor developing country.

This "order" over the years has been preserved through military domination, economic strength, control over the global financial system, military interventions, regime changes, imposition of western values, an interventionist discourse of human rights and democracy etc. The short point is that "global order" is not a neutral concept. It is embedded in western hegemony.

Juxtaposing the rise of Asia and "global order" implies that the established "order" is being challenged. It is thus seen as "disruptive".

The rise of Japan and South Korea and even ASEAN could actually appear as a consolidation of the "global order", as these countries were allies of the US, and therefore not disruptive in terms of balance of power. They could be seen as additional stakeholders in the existing West-dominated system. Japan's phenomenal economic revival and its export volumes were, however, seen as a challenge and this was addressed through the 1985 Plaza accords at Japan's cost.

It is China's rise that has raised concerns about its impact on the existing West created and dominated world order. China is now the biggest manufacturing power (30% of global manufacturing is located in China), the second largest economy and the biggest exporting country. It is also developing its military power, and possesses the world's largest navy, besides expanding its nuclear and missile arsenals. China is carving out its own sphere of influence through military means in the western Pacific and through its economic power across the continents.

But, because of globalisation and its WTO membership, China is also closely linked to the existing "global order" from which it has immensely profited, even as it is seen as challenging it.

India's rise is more recent. It is not seen as disruptive in the same way as that of China's. India wants to carve out a greater role for itself internationally, aspires to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, seeks a reform of the international political and financial institutions, is wedded to its strategic autonomy, and is positioning itself more emphatically as a voice of the Global South. At the same time, however, it is expanding its ties with the US and the West in general. The US is its biggest partner today. Even as it is a member of BRICS and the SCO, India is also a member of the Quad and is committed to the Indo-Pacific concept. It participates regularly in G 7 meetings as an invitee.

India supports a multipolar world, as it is only such a world where power is dispersed in recognition of the shifts in power away from the West that India can have a bigger international role, but for New Delhi the prerequisite for this is a multipolar Asia. China and India, as the two biggest powers of Asia, are rising together at the same time, which, without some understanding between them on the Asian and international space each could occupy without conflict, the move towards multipolarity would be more complicated.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs