Globalization’s impact on Asia remains patchy

To say that Asia is being struck by a wave of globalization already sounds like a trite cliché. We routinely see huge amounts of capital getting moved beyond international borders, while people and information flit about through various channels.

However, such increased fluidity in the global society is creating a complicated tableau here in Asia. Let me offer a few snapshot examples.

First example: At the second AAN (The Asahi Shimbun Asia Network) fellows forum entitled “Looking at Asia through society-disparity, falling birthrate and globalization” that was held recently, Shigeo Matsumura, a news reporter from The Asahi Shimbun made a presentation. According to Matsumura, the city of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, is experiencing a roaring shipbuilding boom, thanks to China’s strong economic growth. While ship owners are definitely profiting, ship builders are relying on migrant workers from China, in order to cut labor costs. Local laborers are not getting hired. And that is the reason why the shopping streets in Imabarai are not bustling with excitement. From this story, a picture emerges showing how both the beneficiary and the casualty of globalization co-exist in close proximity, within the same region.

Another example: Makoto Atoh, professor at Waseda University’s Department of Human Sciences, also spoke at the AAN forum. According to Atoh, countries that have achieved population dynamics that show both low birth rates and low death rates can be further divided into two groups; countries with extreme declining birthrates, where the birth rate continues to drop; and countries with gentle declining birth rates, where the fertility decline bottoms out. Countries that belong to the Confucian culture, including Japan, obviously belong to the first category.

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In Asia, there are regions that have failed to stave off their chronic low-fertility, and suffer from total fertility rates even lower than Japan; such as South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. On the other hand, there are also pockets like the Philippines and Cambodia that have not completed a fertility transition towards a low birth rate, low mortality rate society. Such disparity within the Asia region serves as a backdrop to the demographic shift that is taking place at a brisk pace, through a rapid growth of migrant workers and international marriages.

Take South Korea, for example. The country used to be an exporter of labor to Middle Eastern nations up until the 1980s. Now the country has become a host county to foreign labor. Thailand has two faces. While the country receives laborers from Myanmar and other regions, it also sends off workers to places like Taiwan and Singapore.

Third example: Every country views globalization differently.

The AsiaBarometer is a questionnaire survey conducted at regular intervals covering various countries in the Asia region. According to its 2006 survey report, 13.5 percent of the respondents in Singapore replied that they were worried about the globalization of business activities; as opposed to 3.9 percent of their Chinese counterparts. While 72.5 percent of respondents in Singapore agreed to the statement that the government should limit the influx of foreign labor in order to protect the interest of their country; only 40.8 percent did so in China. As for the statement that equality is preferable, even if it means stagnation of the economy, compared to economic growth under inequality, 64.1 percent agreed, in Singapore; whereas a mere 22.6 percent in China thought so.

Singapore is a country where over a quarter of its labor force population is made up of foreigners, while the ratio is almost nil in China. The two countries demonstrate a marked difference in enthusiasm toward evaluating the negative aspects of globalization.

When we look at globalization, the focus tends to be on such aspects as homogenization of values or contemporaneousness of social issues. Indeed, globalization brought meritocratic values that have now permeated the Asia region. And people are now convinced that disparity springing from differences in ability is inevitable.

Parents, who were unable to receive education themselves, wish for their children’s success. They eagerly invest in their children’s education, competing hard with others. As a result the race for students to get into prestigious universities escalates, with parents getting excessively concerned over their children’s examinations. Such parental angst used to be an exclusive picture of the Japanese. Not any more.

There is a growing interest in studying abroad, and acquiring English. Many universities in the Asia region are at pains to attract top students. Now that the education market has opened up globally, nations that have rallied under the goal of uniting the people are finding their educational platform getting eroded.

The split between the social stratum that benefits from globalization, and the stratum that does not, is growing wider. And that is not something confined to the Japanese society.

Countries such as China and India are now attracting worldwide interest, emerging as rising stars with their spurts of economic growth. While it is said that there is an expanding middle class in these countries, the regional divide is also increasing?steadily. Both nations must now face the problem of how to rectify this problem that is becoming a serious national challenge.

Another issue that sways national policies is how to respond to the surge of illegal alien laborers while protecting the rights of foreign laborers. This is a phenomenon widely acknowledged throughout the Asia region.

However, when it comes to how the actual people view the effects of globalization, response in Asia is patchy. The relationship between those who benefit from and those who are victim to globalization is complicated and entangled. The matter cannot be treated and discussed on a country basis. There are cases where the victim turns beneficiary, once an international border is crossed. The borderline that separates victim and beneficiary is fuzzy and vague.

For better or for worse, we are all now living in a fluid and mobile society called globalization. The prospect is patchy, with a contrasting dappling of “light and dark.” What is called for now is wisdom to come up with ways to increase those “light” areas.