World’s Focus on Asia Has Come: Cayetano

With the growth and leadership Asian countries have shown the world, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he believes Asia’s time has come.

“When we talk about inclusiveness and equality, Asia has gone through so much and sacrificed so much for the world,” he said in a television interview Monday.

Citing factors that highlighted Asia’s global mark for the past decade, including the success of many countries in the continent with their growth and the leadership – and also through the social media – Cayetano said Asians suddenly have a voice not only in the West.

“Now the whole world looks at the potential of Asia, the opportunities of Asia. No country in the world can ignore Asia, the markets of Asia and the people of Asia,” he said.

Cayetano added it is reassuring to know that leaders, particularly those participating in the 2018 Boao Forum in China this week, are inclined to talk about regional development.

Both Cayetano and President Rodrigo R. Duterte are in Hainan, China for the Boao Forum for Asia, which runs until April 11.

“Countries and leaders, maybe President Xi Jinping, maybe President Duterte and other participants at this Forum, are all thinking not only how to benefit their people,” Cayetano said.

“For example, I haven’t had a single conversation with State Councilor Wang Yi or with any other high official of China, where they did not mention how they should benefit both Chinese people and the Filipino people,” he added.

President Duterte himself, after reaffirming commitment to “interconnectivity” with neighbors on Tuesday, stressed that “the Philippines’ destiny is in Asia.”

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected that if Asia follows recent trajectory, the region’s share of global gross domestic product by 2050 may increase up to 52 percent, which will banner the dominant economic position it held some 300 years ago, before the industrial revolution.

According to ADB’s strategic framework, regional cooperation and integration are “critical for Asia’s march toward prosperity,” since these will not only cement the region’s economic gains but will also bridge individual Asian countries and the rest of the world.

In China, there is the Belt and Road initiative, which aims for an economic integration and for a seamless flow of trade in the region. In the Southeast Asian context, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is moving towards integration in many forms.

When asked what excites him the most, given his claim that Asia’s time has arrived, Cayetano mentioned that in the past 50 years, the ASEAN has proven to be a success, “despite many opportunities to be at war or at least to be in a Cold War” against one another.

“What excites me is that there are regional rivalries going on, yet everyone is finding a way to cooperate,” he said.