Ban Ki-moon Stepped on the Stage　　On January 1 Ban Ki-moon, the new secretary-general, moved into the office on the 38th floor of United Nations headquarters in New York. Most of the talk has focused on whether it is appropriate that the world’s regions should take turns in holding such a key post. But the more important issue is what consequences will flow from having an Asian in the top job at the precise moment that Asia emerges into the geopolitical sun.　　A certain historical distance has always existed between the Asian region and the international organization. Most of New York’s energy is consumed by the Middle East and Africa, not Asia. The UN is Atlanticist in structure and sometimes in orientation.　　There have been several signs in recent years, however, of a quickening of interactions between the UN and Asia. First, the end of the cold war broke the superpower deadlock in the Security Council, conjured up new confidence about the organization’s place in international relations and was followed by the establishment of two of the UN’s largest and most complex peace operations, in Cambodia and East Timor.　　Second, the emergence of new and interconnected5 security threats in the region, including infectious diseases, resource scarcity, environmental catastrophes such as the 2004 tsunami, trafficking in drugs and people, and state failure, has demonstrated the advantages of international cooperation. As these threats escalate, so will the work of the UN and its agencies.　　Third, as the focus of international power moves towards them6, Asian states are stepping up their engagement with the world body. The top five contributors of peacekeeping personnel are all from the UN’s Asian regional group. Both Japan and India remain intent on permanent membership of the Security Council. Most striking of all is China’s increasingly practical behavior in New York. China was once poorly represented, defensive in the Council and uninterested in peacekeeping: now it is ably represented, confident and skillful in the chamber8 and before the media, and deploys more peacekeeping personnel than any other permanent member.　　This is the stage onto which Mr. Ban stepped.

发布日期：2021-08-12

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