All take and no give

Rorty took exception to the "essentialist Heideggerian account of the West as a finished-off object", positing instead the alternative notion of the West as a "continuing adventure" (in conversations with the East), in his contribution to Culture and Modernity: East-West Philosophic Perspectives (1991).

Rorty was fighting a losing battle in the triumphalist age of liberal democracy of Francis Fukuyama - The End of History and the Last Man (1992) - and the pessimistic view of Samuel P. Huntington on The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996).

Huntington, of course, was greeted with forceful objection towards the end of Australia's third period of Asian engagement, a brigade led by then foreign minister Gareth Evans. Fukuyama, meanwhile, subsequently recanted the neoliberal stance following the invasion of Iraq perpetrated by President George W. Bush.

On the Rorty view, Western - and thus Australia's - engagement with Asia need go back to post-Enlightenment German philosopher Heidegger. On that view, any understanding of Australia's engagement with Asia needs to be seen from the historical perspective of the "new" Asia(ns).

On the continuum of Beeson and Jayasuriya, Gillard's Australia in the Asian Century would represent the "fifth wave" of Asia engagement. The "fluid shifts" and uncertainty of that engagement need be seen in light of the imperial legacies of the past identified by Beeson and Jayasuriya, and that of Rorty.

In that light, any policy document on Australia's place in Asia need be nuanced on why this "fifth wave" of Australia's engagement with its northern neighbours ought to be welcomed in Asia. On this score, Australia in the Asian Century fails to break from the historically inward-focused "why" question on Australia's engagement with Asia.

And why Asia(ns) ought to welcome Australia(ns), peripheral as Australia is to the region.

Australia in the Asian Century is all "opportunity" (for Australia) in an established and exponentially growing Asian middle class. Asia continues to be viewed through a rose-coloured economic prism - from its author, former secretary of the Treasury Henry, to first reaction sought by the media; essentially the business and economic types. The government's white paper continues to essentially "sell" Asia to the domestic constituency as a market opportunity.

Thus why Australia and her children need to be "Asia literate"; in language and culture - to be able to reap the opportunities; why a third of Australian company directors ought to be Asia-savvy; why Australian media need to cover more of Asia, despite its practitioners not trained beyond the limited technical capabilities of 5Ws + H reportage.

Gillard sought to lift the myopic view when launching the white paper at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney on Sunday, [Oct 28, 2012] sharing her enlightenment from childhood recall of Asia as a basket case of recipient poor of Australian aid.

History has given currency to opposing catchphrases in the region: “Beggar thy neighbour”; and “win-win”. The region judges all and sundry through this prism. Engagement with today’s Asia need be perceived on a more mutual give-and-take footing than the legacies bequeathed to Australia and Asia.