GRONINGEN - The popularity of China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has signaled that Asia in general and China in particular are leading the world into another and relevant direction, a Dutch expert has said.
Rien T. Segers, a Dutch expert on political economy of east Asia, believed the world is undergoing a transition from "the financial, economic and political dominance of the United States towards the dominance of a number of Asian countries, led by China. "
"If dominance is a politically incorrect word, leadership is not nice either. I would prefer 'cooperative influence'", said Segers, who is an Asian business strategist at the International Business School of Hanze University of Applied Science in Groningen, located in the north of the Netherlands.
"The rich and old economies have no other choices but going for a development which is a reflection of cooperative influence of Asian countries in the West and vice versa", he added.
Segers believed a second wave of "Asianization" is now coming and it is much more comprehensive and deeper than the first wave, which was led by Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, because of its large scale.
During the first wave of "Asianization", Japan had about 120 million inhabitants. "The second wave will be more influential, because of the potential economic power of China and other Asian economies, such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan", Segers said.
The fact that a dozen of European countries are joining in the AIIB will have a "tremendous influence" on the second wave of "Asianization," according to the professor.
More than 40 countries have so far showed interest to become members of the AIIB. Among them, European countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, have all stated that they want to become the founding members of the new bank.
On China's rise
Segers has kept a close watch on China's rise and visited China several times.
"Based on my reading of Chinese newspapers and my visits there,
I have the impression that the feeling of leadership is less visible in China," he said.
"It is not a matter that the Chinese would like to dominate the world from a political or economic perspective, but that they would like to be recognized as a country of creativity, innovation and a nation of 'peaceful rise'," he said.
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