Courtesy of the Japanese Red Cross
In recent years, nature has not been kind to the quarter of humanity that lives just across the Pacific Ocean. Southwest China’s earthquake fatalities in Sichuan in 2008 numbered more than 60,000, in Qinghai in 2010 more than 2,000, and just last month in Yunnan more than 25. In 2009, Taiwan lost more than 500 citizens to Typhoon Morakot. In February, more than 166 people died in the Christchurch earthquake. Now East Asia is reeling from yet another blow from nature: the death toll in Northern Japan is nearly 2,000 already, with estimates that it will surpass 10,000 after all of the victims from the earthquake and tsunami are found.
Unfortunately, the turmoil, chaos and violence beneath the surface, and in the waves and winds, of East Asia have been mirrored by conflict among the peoples who live and work there. There is the persistent fear throughout Asia and the world of nuclear weapons in the hands of an unpredictable dictator in North Korea. With clashes between the militaries on both sides of the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) leading to the mobilization of American armed forces in the area, the Korean Peninsula has been as close to war as any period since the 1950s. Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese relations have deteriorated after citizen groups and navies have scuffled over the Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands, barren rocks sitting above natural resources possessing only mythical value. Just before the recent quake and tsunami, Tokyo Municipality’s bellicose outgoing governor, Ishihara Shintaro, called on Japan to begin a nuclear arms race with China.
As natural disasters now seem to be a persistent lethal companion to those living in East Asia, perhaps this is the right time for Asians – and their American allies – to pause and reflect on the true value of nationalist animosity. Or, in other words, this could be a good opportunity to press the reset button on international relations in East Asia, a time for humans to put down swords, spears and placards and go back to doing what they do best: helping each other. There are already encouraging signs that this is happening. China has sent aid and rescue teams to Japan, something almost unthinkable just a few months ago.
What can Americans do from the other side of the planet? We can urge our cash-strapped federal and local governments to continue to devote scarce resources to send helpers, food and water to Northern Japan. And, of course, as individuals we can donate time and money to show the Japanese people that they do indeed have friends far away who care about them very much, just as Japanese have done when we are recovering from hurricanes and other disasters.
Steven W. Lewis is the Baker Institute’s C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow and faculty adviser for the Jesse Jones Leadership Center Summer in D.C. Policy Research Internship Program. He is also a professor in the practice and an associate director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies, as well as an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Sociology at Rice University.