Asian Union, anyone?
June 6th, 2008 Posted in NewsAnother article about finance and politics- that’s unlike me! However, I find this a very interesting topic, which is quite important to the whole world– particularly Australia and Asia. I’m talking about the possibility of an Asian Union (described here at News.com.au).
An Asian Union would involve free trade, a unified currency, and open borders. Understandably, the government is divided in its appreciation of this idea- but I think it’s wonderful… To a point.
For one, as is mentioned in the article linked to above, Australia needs to capitalise on itself being so close to Asia. For far too long, we have considered ourselves a Western country, but, geographically, we are far from it. Yeah, sure– our ideals, customs, and language are certainly aligned with Western society, but a part of Europe or America we are not, regardless of the Commonwealth. And we need to change the way we work to make this work for us.
The idea of free trade between the Asia-Pacific nations would certainly result in a number of obvious benefits– Why trade with the more expensive and distant Europeans when we have a cheaper alternative so close? Of course, there are a number of political considerations, but it would still be beneficial.
The idea of a unified currency is probably the most contentious issue. Personally, it would make things a hell of a lot easier for some of us (namely… Mihoko and I), and it would (possibly) have a positive effect on world commerce, although, to be honest, my understanding of commerce (and politics, hehe) is somewhat limited.
Open borders? Well… That’s one part that a lot of Australians are oing to disagree with, and that’s something that really obviously separates us from Europe. We were, for a long time, a segregated nation — much of the world is a far-away place. We are extremely multi-cultural, but many of us don’t want to be. Australia for Australians? Well, give it back to the Aboriginals. That’s not going to happen. We should at least embrace our neighbours. But I don’t want to get into a racial argument… I like the idea of a United Asian passport to our section of the world… Whether I would use it or not doesn’t matter so much.
It is, to me, a relatively good idea, but requires a lot of consideration, of course. Asia has the richest history, culture, and diversity of language in the world (but don’t quote me on that), so there are a lot of vested interests among many of the countries involved. However, if they could all get together and come to an agreement, that would be pretty awesome. And to think– this was put forward by an Australian Prime Minister?! Unheard of! Rudd is shaking things up– he’s not perfect, but none of us are. I think he’ll do us proud. I’m gonna keep an eye on this topic, see where it goes.
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