上海国际问题研究院

Identifying and Addressing Major Issues Including “Trust” and Trust Deficiency

2020/12/25

Major Issues in Asia and Indian Ocean Region

At present, in the short term, the most urgent issue for the whole world is how to dealwith the Covid 19. The pandem ic situation not only poses a serious threat to the health of people in the world, including those in Asia and Indian Ocean region, but also seriously affects the development of the world economy. Many countries in Asia and Indian Ocean region are facing economic recession, and people's daily life isgreatly affected. How to control the pandemic is the most urgent challenge for thewhole world, including Asia and India Ocean region.

In the long run, the biggest issue facing Asia and the Indian Ocean is theunprecedented change. It has been occurring in the whole world, including the shift of the world economic center of gravity, the transfer of wealth, the transfer of the world power center, a new round of scientific and technological revolution, the impact and transformation of national and social governance in the information age, the thought of anti globalization, the rise of populism and the challenge of democratic and liberal values. Global governance and national governance are facing unprecedented challenges, and the international economic and political order is undergoing disorder and reorganization. At the same time, the natural environment in which human beings live is also changing, especially the climate change and the spread of epidemic diseases. The Covid 19 pandemic is the latest example, which is a common challenge faced by mankind.

From the political and economic point of view, the unprecedented changes in the world are mainly reflected in the “the rise of the East and the decline of the West”Dongsheng Xijiang ) as well as “the ascent of the South and the fall of the North”Nanshang Beixia ), that is, the overall rise of developing countries, especially Asia,and the relative decline of the West. From the perspective of civilization, it is the revival of Eastern civilization such as China and India and the relative decline of the West. From the perspective of geopolitics, it is the geopolitical competition between China and the United States. Asia, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean are the central stages of this unprecedented change. In the view of some strategic scholars, the Indian Ocean is of special significance. They call the Indian Ocean region "the geographical pivot of the 21st century". Now, the Covid 19 pandemic has accelerated the unprecedented change. The international economic, technological, cultural, security and political structures are undergoing profound adjustment, and the world is entering a period of turbulence and change.

For Full Text, pls click the attached file to download

author：

Liu Zongyi

source： Pathfinder Indian Ocean Security Conference,10, 11 & 12 November 2020