As West Pushes for Democracy, Asia Leans Toward Japan 
International Herald Tribune
November 9, 1991
Michael Richardson

Western pressure for democratization in Asia is mounting after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union.

While the most prominent targets are China, Vietnam, North Korea and Burma, officials of other Asian countries complain that they are being prodded to conform to what they contend are essentially Western values and interests.

In non-Communist countries, one significant, and unintended, reaction has been to turn toward Japan - not the West - as the best example to follow.

This was put most succinctly by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia, who said recently that in seeking to become a fully industrialized country by 2020, Malaysia was "trying to emulate Japan, not the West."

In a speech in Hong Kong, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's senior minister and former prime minister, said that the growing economic strength of East Asian nations and their social advancement had altered Asian views of the value of British and U.S. systems of government.

Japan's economic success, he asserted, is based on political and social stability, orderliness, low crime rates, negligible drug-taking and strong communitarian values.

Mr. Lee said that Asians had "little doubt that a society with communitarian values where the interests of society take precedence over that of the individual suits them better than the individualism of America."

Asians also regard Japanese standards as higher than those of the United States. "And the Japanese are not pushy proselytizers, at least not yet," Mr. Lee added.

Most of the non-Communist East Asian nations that have impressive economic growth records hold regular elections but organize their politics and promote a system of consensus so that a dominant party or coalition remains in office to provide stability, while allowing opposing parties to contest the polls.

Countries with such a system include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Robert A. Scalapino, founder of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, said this system of "authoritarian-pluralism" was an alternative both to Leninism and Western-style democracy in Asia.

"It is an alternative," he said, "that not only fits the cultural contours of most Asian states more closely than the two rival systems, but that often, although not always, underwrites the rapid economic growth that many Asian leaders have made their first priority."

When it comes to Western efforts, particularly U.S. efforts, to encourage the democratization of Communist countries, Asian officials and analysts say they worry that "premature" change will cause instability, especially in China.

Masashi Nishihara, professor of international relations at the National Defense Academy in Japan, said there was a risk that if the United States continued "bashing China" and intensified its economic sanctions against Beijing, those measures would weaken Asia's largest nation.

"If central control weakens, China may start to disintegrate and that would have a serious impact on many neighboring countries," he added.

The U.S. secretary of state, James A. Baker 3d, is to visit Beijing next week for talks that will focus on human rights practices in China.

Earlier this year, countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations resisted efforts by the European Community, the United States, Canada and Australia to have them join a boycott against Burma over the junta's refusal to hand over power to elected civilians of the opposition.

Instead, ASEAN will send Raul Manglapus, the Philippine foreign minister, to Rangoon at the end of this month. Mr. Manglapus said Monday that he would try to draw Burma out of isolation and encourage constructive change.

The ASEAN members - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - are also highly critical of a new EC policy to link trade with other countries to their records on human rights and to safeguarding tropical forests and the environment.

Copyright © 2006 The International Herald Tribune