Towards a New World Symphony

The continuing waves of history are bottled and labelled as 'Ages', 'Centuries' and 'Eras'. For a while, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama felt that history had "ended" with the "universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government." This once loudly trumpeted theme is now being regularly drowned in a multi-polar, or non-polar, world that involves various players dubbed, by Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria, "the Rest". There is no baton-waving conductor on the global rostrum orchestrating a single systemic theme or world order. One of the many themes currently being heard is that of the so-called Asian Century, with some Asia-philes modifying Zakaria's phrase to describe this as an orchestration of "the Best".

In this, China and India are seen as joint composers of an emerging New World Symphony. In January 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Wen Jiabao signed a "Vision Document for the 21st Century", envisaging "a harmonious world of durable peace and common prosperity". As "the two largest developing nations … representing more than one third of humanity", they accepted "historical responsibility to ensure … economic and social development of the two countries and to promote peace and development in Asia and the world as a whole". They stated that they were in favour of "an open inclusive international system", believing that "drawing lines on grounds of ideologies and values, or geographical criteria, is not conducive to peaceful and harmonious co-existence." Avoiding excessive Asia-centrism, a "comprehensive partnership" with Europe is now also being envisaged. China and India were also both accepted at the G8 meetings in Sapporo, Japan, in mid-July.