Dossier

Why Asia is the center of the world (again) | Parag Khanna | TEDxGateway

The speaker, after proving personal mixed heritage using DNA, argues that Asians should rediscover and emphasize their inherent interconnectedness, drawing parallels between historical Asian empires and the modern trajectory of mutual economic growth across the continent. The evidence provided is the contemporary trade volume and connectivity across Asia, exemplified by the fact that Asia now trades more with itself than with any other global region.

## Speakers & Context
- Speaker whose ethnicity leads people to assume other nationalities in various locations (e.g., Istanbul, New York, New Delhi).
- Speaker uses DNA results and historical economic data to argue for a collective Asian identity.

## Theses & Positions
- No group is as racially or ethnically homogeneous as commonly believed; all people are products of large-scale genetic collisions.
- For the past 500 years due to colonialism and the Cold War, Asians have forgotten their shared commonalities.
- The correct way to understand Asia's evolution is through *waves of mutually reinforcing growth*, not discrete empires dominating others.
- The goal is for Asians to rediscover their shared identity, echoing Tagore's belief that *Asia is one*.
- Asia's economies are becoming so large that the West is now producing for Asia, reversing historical roles.

## Concepts & Definitions
- **Genetic collision:** The biological mixing that results from the migration and wandering of mankind across continents.
- **Great Asian Space:** The vast geographical region across which Asian civilizations have spread, characterized by the flow of people and ideas.
- **Multipolarity:** A system where power and influence are distributed among several centers, rather than concentrated in one.

## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Genetic analysis:** Using a saliva swab mailed to the National Geographic genotype project to determine genetic ancestry.
- **Economic Growth Waves:** Historical process where Asian empires grew, spreading influence and commerce from east to west, and west to east.
- **Connectivity and Trade Agreements:** The modern mechanism driving integration, enabling countries across Asia to develop complementarities by trading energy, food, goods, and technology.
- **Infrastructure Investment:** Large-scale coordinated programs, like the Belt and Road Initiative, that help developing nations build and modernize.

## Timeline & Sequence
- **Hundreds of thousands of years:** Period of large-scale genetic collisions across continents.
- **Past 500 years:** Period characterized by colonialism and the Cold War, during which shared identity was diminished.
- **Past 4,000 years:** Timeframe during which most world civilizations were centered in Asia.
- **Last 40 years:** Period noted for Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore driving China's economic miracle.
- **Currently:** The beginning of the next major Asian growth wave, involving South and Southeast Asia.

## Named Entities
- **Uzbekistan:** Place where the speaker was greeted by people who know an Indian person.
- **Tashkent:** City where the speaker landed and was greeted.
- **Singapore:** Country mentioned alongside Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea in modern Asian economic growth.
- **India:** Country whose people are noted for having significant diaspora populations (e.g., in Dubai).

## Numbers & Data
- Speaker's DNA breakdown: **50% Southwest Asian**, **22% Mediterranean**, **17% Southeast Asian**, and **10% northern European**.
- People in the speaker's DNA ancestry: Includes genetic traces of **Alexander the Great** and **Genghis Khan's marauding Mongol hordes**.
- World population estimate: Plateauing at **about 10 billion people**.
- People across the great Asian geography: Over **5 billion people**.
- China's current GDP: **11 trillion dollars**.
- South Korea/Taiwan/HK/Singapore's combined GDP: **about five trillion dollars**.
- South/Southeast Asian collective GDP: **already six trillion dollars**.
- Target projection: If South/Southeast Asia grows at half China's past rate, they will equal China's current GDP within **ten years**.

## Examples & Cases
- **Personal Greeting Experience:** Being mistaken for Turkish in Istanbul, Mexican in New York, or Iranian in New Delhi, but correctly identified as Indian by people in Uzbekistan.
- **Cultural Misrepresentation:** The tendency for the world to only think of China when they mention Asia, despite China not singularly representing the continent.
- **Asian Economic Momentum:** Japan's rapid post-WWII resurrection leading to industrialization, inspiring the "tiger economies" (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore).
- **Current Investment Examples:** India being the largest recipient of loans from the Beijing-based Asian infrastructure investment bank.
- **Modern Intermingling:**
    * Japan having more migrants now than ever before.
    * Towns in South Korea with Korean, Vietnamese, and Korean Chinese families.
    * Indians and Filipinos marrying and having children in Dubai.
    * Intermarriage between Chinese and Indians in Singapore creating "Chinadians."
- **Global Connectivity:** All the busiest international airline routes in the world are between pairs of Asian cities.

## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Q-tip/Saliva Swab:** Used to collect biological samples for genetic testing.
- **National Geographic genotype project:** The global ancestry study service used by the speaker.
- **Belt and Road Initiative:** The largest coordinated infrastructure investment program in world history.
- **Asian infrastructure investment bank:** The institution providing loans to countries like India.

## References Cited
- **Tagore:** India's great poet and Nobel laureate, who urged Asians to recover the spiritual bonds of unity that tie them together.

## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The perception that Asian civilizations are represented by discrete blocks or that China singularly represents all of Asia.
- The geopolitical framing of the Belt and Road Initiative as either a "golden age of Silk Road" or a "plot by China to dominate Asia."

## Methodology
- **Genetic Testing:** Utilizing global ancestry studies to map genetic lineages over deep time.
- **Economic Trend Analysis:** Tracing the growth patterns across multiple Asian economies (Japan $\rightarrow$ Tiger Economies $\rightarrow$ China $\rightarrow$ South/Southeast Asia).
- **Observation of Global Trade:** Monitoring airline routes and investment flows to quantify increased intra-Asian commerce.

## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Asians should stop referring to themselves or each other in a fragmented way and instead claim the overarching identity of "Asian," as Europeans do.
- Future generations *will* naturally adopt a unifying "Asian" identity.
- The final call is for future generations to carry with them "pride in being Asian."

## Implications & Consequences
- The shift means that global economic gravity and trade connectivity are moving back towards a multi-polar, intra-Asian structure.
- The current trend of increased intermarriage and cultural mixing suggests a natural blurring of rigid ethnic boundaries.

## Verbatim Moments
- *"I am 50% Southwest Asian 22% Mediterranean 17% Southeast Asian and 10% northern European."*
- *"the truth is you are most definitely Asian."*
- *"Asia has been forgetting that we have so much more in common than what divides us."*
- *"commerce conflict and culture were the dominant way of life along Asia's great Silk Roads."*
- *"China did not singularly represent all of Asia itself."*
- *"The greatest wave of Asian growth is just getting going."*
- *"Asia is stitching itself back together again."*
- *"Asia is truly integrating like never before."*
- *"I certainly hope it includes pride in being Asian."*