Global Changemakers

Today President Obama jets off on his first trip to Asia. It has been a long time coming for a President that has already visited Europe three times since January.

President Obama’s trip to Asia will be his most important yet.

While his European travels have taken him to the G20 and to NATO, declaring war on nuclear arms along the way, it is Asia – not Europe – that should be center of the world’s attention right now.

Having spent so much time in the United States over the last two years it has struck me how polarizing East and West Coast foreign policy thinking is when it comes to Asia.

The East Coast continues to be guided by an ‘Atlantic-centric’ approach to foreign policy forged in the aftermath of the Second World War. It is an approach that sees Washington, London, Moscow, Paris and Berlin as the great capitals of the world and the time zones that adorn the walls of the White House Situation Room.

But the goalposts have shifted eastwards.

Indeed, by 2020 the world’s four largest cities – Seoul, Mumbai, Jakarta and Karachi – will all be in Asia alongside the two most populous countries and the biggest Islamic state.

Economically, Asia has become the engine room of world’s economy pumping out half of global GDP and nurturing growing markets which could help drive the US and Europe out of its economic downturn. Asia also has three of the five largest militaries and will shortly account for a quarter of all global military spending. Even the nuclear and security threats posed by rogue states like North Korea or from an escalation between India and Pakistan far outweigh anything going on in Europe.

By comparison, Europe has economic stresses following the global economic crisis, but has otherwise settled into a period of stability that was hoped for following the collapse of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago this week.

Indeed, when Donald Rumsfeld famously remarked in 2003 that France and Germany represented “Old Europe”, he was a bit off the mark: Europe itself is getting old. The recent shift of ‘executive’ global decision making from the G8 to the G20 demonstrates that the old powers of Europe are giving way to an Asia that has risen, and is now maturing, on the international stage.

And current conflicts bear out the shift in priorities that will need to take place. The priority of NATO remains the war in Afghanistan, not the challenges associated with an ascendant and potentially militaristic China. The Copenhagen climate change negotiations that are being run and driven by Europe’s low carbon agenda won’t succeed without the participation of a reluctant India and China.

We are currently in the middle of a great geo-political shift, and it will require fresh thinking from the East Coast foreign policy community in order for the United States to remain regionally relevant.

These facts clearly aren’t being lost on everyone though with Hillary Clinton’s first trip as Secretary of State rightly to Asia. And President Obama’s Pacific-identity with his Indonesian and Hawaiian heritage provides an opportunity of understanding.

But, to date they haven’t risen to the challenge by providing opportunities for West Coast foreign policy thinkers. By solidifying itself as the Asian portal to the United States, the West Coast can forge relationships that will drive investment, educational opportunities and cultural partnerships that will only enhance great cosmopolitan cities like San Francisco.

Surely it is about time for some focus on Asia.

Thom Woodroofe, 20, is a Global Changemaker from Australia living and studying in the United States. He is a delegate to this week’s APEC Summit in Singapore and next week’s Asia 21 Summit in Malaysia.