Book Review - Asian Juggernaut : The Rise of India China and Japan

Asian Juggernaut is a book with a massive, vast scope - aiming for covering the challenges, prospects and history of a massive continent; a continent that for most of History of the Earth was the predominant one. This is historical fact; this also means that its strategic analysis will also have to be of that level of depth. Secondly, Asia is a modern strategic playground for European / American powers, and is likely to  remain as such for the foreseeable future. It has had the status of a plaything of the West for 300+ years now. Thirdly, thanks largely to Western interference – aided in no small measure by Asian Naivete & Power Hunger, it is a continent deeply divided. We Asians Fail to realise that we need to be cohesive, unitary, one – giving the West the opportunity to use us for their means & ends. That wont change.

THE MISSES

None of these facts is going to change anytime soon. Neither are they going to be forgotten - in that light, this book has more misses than it does pluses - which accounts for my low rating for it. That does not mean that this book is bad; far from it. It is a good  read; my problem is that I feel it just fails to do justice to the vast scope of Asia, or - if you like, going by the title alone - India / Japan / China. Thing is, if you consider these 3 alone, you have to consider all  Asia; and if you then pay scant attention to Russia, dismiss it totally almost as an afterthought - you lose 1-2 stars in the rating. And if you then miss out the other vast scope Asia includes - then even 2 stars is a stretch for rating it.

The other problem in this book is the almost exclusive focus on China; this is a book on 3 nations, but it comes out as China centric. While this may seem fine, given China’ dominance, there is a strong need to give a lot more balance to the entire layout and aspects covered. China centricism is fine given a far more wholesome analysis of options for each nation in equal measure. And that means, a deeper analysis of Russia, the Far East and the Middle East. In reality, I got the impression that  Australia finds a larger place than Russia in the book, which is a distinct surprise!

In addition to that, a more balanced look at history, especially the entire Tibet saga. What is there in the book does seem to be accurate – but it moves smoothly from 1954-ish straight to 1962;  missing a lot of additional events that happened. This lends me to wonder… I appreciate they may seem a logical outcome of the lead up to 1954, but in an analysis all factors, historical points etc need to be mentioned. This is missed here.

THE HITS

I would like people to take a positive impression of this book – hence listed the minuses first. Coming to the positives, first of all, on China, this is a comprehensive analysis. It gives a deep, wide and in depth look at China from almost all angles. The best part is the US-China relationship, which, as it turns out, is far more complex than first appears. If you wash away the posturing from both sides – it emerges quite clearly that it is a multi-layered complex relationship. The simplistic Indian-Rightist take of US-China head-on issues clearly comes out as naïve and just plain wrong. Fact is, USA will continue to manipulate India and China for some time to come; we cannot expect any US clear support.

The US and China will not go head-on; quite the opposite, given the trade between them, the US dependence on Chinese imports, and most importantly the Chinese investments in the USA and its dollar reserves, meaning a debt situation. Then there are other counterbalancing issues in other regions – Japan and the emergent nationalistic feelings there; the Russian bear on the North – meaning it is in US’ interests to keep China off balance, yet engaged. To Indians hoping for USA to go hammer-and-tongs anti-China – rhetoric and empty statements aside – stop hoping, not gonna happen.

The book raised an interesting possibility in my mind – that the USA might also have enabled the rise of China from developing status to the power it is today. For China to have such a massive imbalanced Trade – well, given the real world of tariff / non-tariff barriers and trade politics – this cannot have happened without tacit US support. This is not too far from what happened elsewhere – most newly developed nations have a strong US back-support; but then – China apart, none are truly free to make their own strategic decisions. This again means that the Indian hope of US-India friendship based on a China platform is pointless, and a pipe-dream. This is also corroborated by the US-China Nuclear matters, and the US looking the other way – at times implied tacit support to China -  as discussed in the book. So US-India vs China? No chance. Forget it.

The book takes a fascinating look at Japan, tracing the rise of Japanese anti-US sentiment, Japanese internal nationism; as well as the China vs Japan relationship. This is the second aspect of the book that I absolutely loved for its clarity, accurate historical perspective, given that it starts from the Meiji Restoration, and spot-on current analysis. While a lot more space should have been given to Japan, what is there is enough to leave a lasting impression, painting as it does a picture of a nation deep in the throes of some change, and reluctantly taking a relook at  its own direction. We Indians would do well to keep our eyes peeled on Japan.

CONCLUSION

A good book for people wanting to remove the rose-tint from their eyes, and get a handle on the real-world geopolitics of Asia. Despite the low rating, this is a must read, as it opens your eyes, points you in several further directions in which to focus your future reading, opens interesting possibilities, and raises curiosity. Sadly, there are some gaps, but what is present in the book is good. It is full of China, and needs more space for others, and a lot more focus on Russia. Agreed that the title is these 3 nations – but you cannot analyse these 3 along geopolitical aspects without bringing in Russia. Especially not India; which is why my review is totally silent on the Indian perspectives given in this book.