Ideology that promotes Asian unity
Pan-Asianism (also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism) is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asianism have been proposed, particularly from East, South and Southeast Asia. The motive for the movement was the values of Western imperialism and colonialism, and that Asian values preceded European values. According to another view, this ideology is an event that emerged due to the fact that peoples whose language origins appeared in Asia from the same ancestor.[1]
If linguistics are to be subject to Pan-Asian ideology, Russia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Iran should not logically be included, although those nations are geographically within Asia: Russian, Armenian, Tajik, Pashto, Urdu, Bengali, Nepali, and Persian stem from Proto-Indo-European, which originated outside the regions from which Pan-Asianism was originally conceptualized.[2]
Pertaining only to the Far East (East and Southeast Asia), the most commonly-spoken languages fall into either two major language families: East Asian or Altaic, several language isolates do exist and are still spoken however. In addition to East Asian, Altaic, and a few language isolates, the Uralic language family also has origins within the Far East (Specifically Northeast China). So it is possible to include countries that speak a language belonging to the Uralic language family (Hungary, Finland, Karelia, Estonia, etc.) within this ideology as well.[3][4][5][6][7]
According to the principle of Pan-Asianism, Asians, like the Indo-European language family, come from the same origin and it is argued that they should be united under the same roof. The main reason for introducing ideology is to drive European imperialism out of Asia. Semang, Turkic languages, Mongolian, Tungusic languages (Manchu, etc.), Hmong-Mein, Tai-Kadai, Austronesian languages (Indonesian, Filipino, etc.), Tibetan-Burmese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Ainu are in the same language section.[8] These languages are thought to be of the same origin.[9] In most other sources, Ural languages (Finnish, Estonian, etc.) are also added to the Asian language family section. But due to geography some sources show it as European.[10] The same pattern is valid for families such as the Eskimo-Aleut language family, because they are geographically American, they are shown as American but linguistically they are Asian.[11]
Japanese Asianism
Greater East Asia Conference in November 1943, the participants were (L–R):
Ba Maw, representative of
Burma,
Zhang Jinghui, representative of
Manchukuo,
Wang Jingwei, representative of
China,
Hideki Tōjō, representative of
Japan,
Wan Waithayakon, representative of
Thailand,
José P. Laurel, representative of
Philippines,
Subhas Chandra Bose, representative of
India
Pre-World War II Japanese Pan-Asianism was, at its core, the idea that Asia should unite against European imperialism.
Japanese Asianism developed in intertwining among debates on solidarity with Asian nations who were under pressure of Europe and on aggressive expansion to the Asian continent. The former debates originated from liberalism. Their ideologues were Tokichi Tarui (1850–1922) who argued for equal Japan-Korea unionization for cooperative defence against the European powers,[12] and Kentaro Oi (1843–1922) who attempted domestic constitutional government in Japan and reforms of Korea.[13] Pan-Asian thought in Japan began to develop in the late 19th century and was spurred on particularly following the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). This created interest from Indian poets Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo and Chinese politician Sun Yat-sen.
The growing official interest in broader Asian concerns was shown in the establishment of facilities for Indian Studies. In 1899, Tokyo Imperial University set up a chair in Sanskrit and Kawi, with a further chair in comparative religion being set up in 1903. In this environment, a number of Indian students came to Japan in the early twentieth century, founding the Oriental Youngmen's Association in 1900. Their anti-British political activity caused consternation to the Indian Government, following a report in the London Spectator.
However, Japanese society had been strongly inclined to ultranationalism from the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. The latter debates on aggressive expansionism to Asia became clearly apparent. Their representatives were the Black Ocean Society and the Black Dragon Society. The Black Dragon Society (1933) argued for Japanese imperialism and expansionism, and they led to a debate on securing the Asian continent under Japanese control. Exceptionally, Ryōhei Uchida (1874–1937), who was a member of the Black Dragon Society, was a Japan-Korea unionist and activist of Philippines and Chinese revolutions.
Tōten Miyazaki (1870–1922) consistently supported a Chinese revolution of Sun Yat-sen with spiritual sacrifice and sympathy under imperial Japan. Okakura Kakuzō (1862–1913) criticized European imperialism as a destroyer of human beauty, and argued for romantic solidarity with diverse "Asia as one" against European civilization.
ASIA is one. The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritance of every Asiatic race, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world, and distinguishing them from those maritime peoples of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, who love to dwell on the Particular, and to search out the means, not the end, of life.[14]
In this Okakura was utilising the Japanese concept of sangoku, which existed in Japanese culture before the concept of Asia became popularised. Sangoku literally means the "three countries": Honshu (the largest island of Japan), Kara (China) and Tenjiku (India).[15]
However, most Pan-Asianists were nationalistic and imperialistic and were connected with rightist[clarification needed] organizations. They discussed self-righteous solidarity which led to ideology such as a "new order" of East Asia and "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" based on Japanese supremacy.
New Greater Asianism from China
From a Chinese perspective, Japanese Asianism was interpreted as a rationalized ideology for Japanese military aggression and political absorption (cf. Twenty-One Demands). In 1917, Li Dazhao (1889–1927) argued for the liberation of Asian nations and equal greater Asian union. In 1924, Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) stated that the West was hegemonic and the East was Confucian, and he argued for full independence by resisting colonialism with "Greater Asianism" which unified Asian nations.[16]
Early period of Pan-Asianism
More significant and successful spread of Pan-Asianism than Japan's period in World War II was seen during the reign of Genghis Khan (Temuchin)..[17] At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan wanted to unite all the tribes in Central Asia (especially the nomadic tribes) and unite them into a single nation and gather the Mongolian political identity under the same roof.[18] and established the world's largest contiguous empire.[19]
Turkish Pan-Asianism
Pan-Asianism in Turkey has not yet been fully explored,[20] it is not known how many people hold this ideology and how widespread it is. However, Turks who supports Japan in the Second World War and has the Pan-Asianism ideology uses a redesigned Turkish flag based on Japan's flag in the Second World War.[21][22]
Pan-Asianism post World War II
Political leaders from Sun Yat-sen in the 1910s and 20s to Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s argue that the political models and ideologies of Europe lack values and concepts found in Asian societies and philosophies. European values such as individual rights and freedoms would not be suited for Asian societies in this extreme formulation of Pan-Asianism.[citation needed]
The idea of "Asian values" is somewhat of
a resurgence of Pan-Asianism. One foremost enthusiast of the idea was the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. In India, Ram Manohar Lohia dreamed of a united socialist Asia.[citation needed]
