Europe, Australia, the US... and 'The Asian century'

Global regional centres have acknowledged that the 21st century will see the centre of economic growth and gravity shift to Asia and especially certain key nations within Asia. Here the reference is mostly to China, India, but Japan and South East Asia will be part of this scenario. This is both an understandable yet questionable objective and statement. Understandable, because global economic growth has been driven by China, India and other smaller nations. Questionable because a century can be a long time to occupy this position. Moreover China, with all of its clear market propositions is still an economy which is centrally planned and ruled by a Communist Party. In addition the economy is dominated by State Owned Enterprises (SOE) which alone creates nervousness and difficulty for many western countries. Nonetheless the US, the European Union and Australia are all vying for their place in this new vision statement and positioning which each nation wishes to see itself. Each geographic location is seeking ways to find the ability to project a positive and prosperous future. We have witnessed the release of an Australian White Paper in 2012 which identifies Australian future economic growth associated and even tied to Asian growth. The EU and the US are likewise scrambling to position themselves to not be left behind. This paper seeks to explore the way the US, the EU and Australia see this Asian century and why they have all embarked on placing themselves alongside the Asian tigers. The paper will examine the basis on which it will be the Asian century and why these geographic and global centres place their future in the hands of what still remains a region which remains with many angles of uncertainty and unpredictability