27 minutes ago Asia - AFP (from Yahoo! News)
JAKARTA, (AFP) - Fifty years ago, 29 African and Asian heads of state met in Indonesia to proudly declare a solidarity they saw as a counterbalance to the divided world of the Cold War, free from the imperialism and dominance of the West.
But as leaders from both continents prepare to meet half a century on from the first Asia-Africa conference, which gave birth to the Non-Aligned Movement, (NAM) they face a struggle to revive lofty ideals that many participants have cast aside as they strive for a footing in a vastly different world.
Some 46 heads of state are due to gather this weekend in Jakarta and Bandung, the Java island city where Indonesia's founding president Sukarno convened the first Asia-Africa summit.
Ahead of the meeting, joint hosts Indonesia and South Africa have pushed the message that the summit will see a revival of the "Bandung spirit" as the two continents rebuild old bridges with new trade and friendship pacts.
It will be a tall order to recapture the non-aligned zeitgeist of 1955, when it seemed feasible to create an ideological blend of Asian and African nationalism acceptable to theocrats of the Middle East, capitalists from Japan and communists of China.
This is even more unlikely when considering side-issues that will dominate the 2005 meeting, such as a spat between Tokyo and Beijing, ostensibly over Japan's World War II aggression, but indicative of tensions over the race for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
Myriad other regional power struggles have been further complicated by a US-led war on terrorism that has targeted and involved several participants.
"The 50th anniversary of the Asia-Africa conference calls for deep introspection. We still need to weigh whether our destinies are really being decided at home or in Geneva or Washington," said Delhi-based political analyst Praful Bidawi.
Some observers are scornful of a gathering they see as little more than an exercise in well-meaning handshakes and empty promises that will fail to address real issues such as the spread of HIV-AIDS in both continents.
"This is a meeting looking for a mission," said John Stremlau, director of the Johannesburg-based Centre for Africa's International Relations. "There are no strategic issues."
But others see strong forces at play beneath the hot air, with the summit likely to be showcase if not for inter-continental harmony, then for emerging economic powerhouses wanting to throw their weight and make new strategic pals.
"These big developing country talk-shops don't deliver that much in terms of concrete changes to global regulations," said Peter Draper, a research fellow on African-Asian relations at the South African Institute for International Affairs.
"But I would think that this will be a good opportunity for China and India to flex their muscle, although they don't really need forums like this to do it."
Both India and China, two of the world's most populous nations, are rising as economic, military and political players on the world stage, undoubtedly emboldened by a new strategic partnership between Beijing and New Delhi.
Their status also represents how economically dynamic Asia has somewhat begun to overshadow Africa, its one-time ally in poverty and post-colonial disarray.
Nevertheless, oil-rich countries such as Nigeria, Angola and Algeria still have influence to peddle in a world market increasingly in thrall to the ebb and flow of crude, while Britain's pro-Africa plan for the Group of Eight club of the world's richest countries could help boost the continent's standing.
The past few years have seen huge increases in trade between Asia and Africa, with resource-hungry China particularly keen to draw on the oil and other raw material supplies.
Imports and exports between China and Africa reached 29.5 billion dollars in 2004, almost 60 percent up from the year before. From 1991 to 2004 trade between India and Africa rose from 890 million dollars to 2.4 billion.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's intention to brief the summit on plans to reform the United Nations and open up a permanent seat of the Security Council, will open up a new avenue of influence for participants.
"The Asia-Africa solidarity is also critical in the reform of the UN Security Council," says He Wenping, a political analyst at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"China and other developing countries want to coordinate their views and stance. If Asia and Africa, even better if Latin America is included, become stronger, this will keep unilateralism in check," she said.
To the displeasure of China, Japan has made securing a permanent seat on the Security Council a major priority and is in a joint bid with Brazil, Germany and India. Only Japan, however, has the explicit backing of the United States.
Fifty years of similar rows and occasional conflicts have helped to erode the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, equality and peaceful coexistence on which non-alignment was based.
Says Hong Kong-based social analyst Josef Purnama Widyatmadja, though the world has changed since 1955, pushing the non-aligned movement off its chosen path, many of the problems it once promised to eradicate persist.
"Dictatorships still flourish in Asia and Africa, and human rights violations are a daily practice. People are still threatened by a 'war on terror', pre-emptive wars, with weapons of mass destruction, poverty, human rights abuses and HIV/AIDS," he said.
Unless this week's summit can strike a consensus on how to tackle these, says Widyatmadja, the so-called non-aligned nations could entirely undermine the world in which they stand a chance of being recognised.
"The role of Asia-Africa in promoting a just international order will depend largely in its inner strength, unity and cohesion."
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