2014-04-08   An East Asian Union

After two world wars in which many millions of people died, the nations of Europe decided to prevent future wars by forming the European Union. Despite various  problems, the Union has been highly successful in promoting co-operation and friendship among the peoples of Europe.

In East Asia there have been many positive agreements made between nations since World War II and the Korean War, but below the surface there is still great anger and mistrust in the relationships between China, Taiwan, Japan, North and South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and other South East Asian countries.

Surely the time has come for the current generation of leaders to imitate the vision and
wisdom of Deng Xiaoping who hoped that future leaders would find peaceful solutions to end tensions in the region.

May there soon be an East Asian Union to foster economic progress and social stability in this part of the world. Such a Union could well propose a formula for sharing the resources of the seas, maybe based on a population basis. The path to an economically and socially devastating war is not an option for wise leaders.