asian values and united nations principles, persoal stories

8/14/2019 Asian Values and United Nations Principles, Persoal Stories

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ASIAN VALUES AND U. N. PRINCIPLES, PERSONAL STORIES

The following is a personal story defending Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of United Nations.

Ban Ki-Moon is a good man. I have a personal story to share about Ban. Manyconsidered him as the best choice of U.N. Secretary General when he was elected. It wasan Asians turn any way at the time. Chinas representative graciously conceded toKorea. That was also thought of as a very nice gesture.

I happened to know Ban because World Harmony Organization was presenting our Harmony Renaissance Preamble and Declaration to U.N. (See attached) during 2008,shortly after his election. He was very friendly and approachable befitting the description

of Modesty, Moderation and Harmony.

I followed him closely at the time running up to his election. I remembered his interview by PBS Charlie Rose well. After the usual media pleasantry, Charlie went straight after Ban. Charlie questioned Ban unceremoniously You have been accused as soft andnoncommittal. As a perfect Eastern gentleman and scholar, Ban without taking offense,softly said I am only interested in working for U.N. Harmony. I said to myself Great!We finally got our harmony man in U.N.!

As an aside, Bans English pronunciation is better than mine, considering I have beenhere as an immigrant for over 50 years.

What the Western media got against Ban is a classic case of Western medias lack of understanding of Eastern modesty and harmony. Western media is used to aggressiveand confrontational approaches. There is a thing or two about Eastern Wisdom one canlearn from this story. Lao Tzu has said The supreme good is like water, whichnourishes all things without trying to, Water the soft can bore a hole through thehardest rock and Water the soft can sink or float the mightiest ship.

It is time for a rebalance of the Yin and Yang or the West and East culture for worldharmony. East is East and West is West, neer the twain shall meet- Mark Twain. For world Harmony Renaissance, it is time to indulge in some refreshing Eastern wind after two hundred years of dominant Western wind.

Francis C W Fung, Ph.D.Director GeneralWorld harmony [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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ANOTHER PERSONAL STORY ON ASIAN VALUES AND U.N. PRINCIPLES

U.S. PBS TV is a great source of news that generally shows the greatness of America andher people. However, when it comes to China, PBS does not practice fairness. Most of

PBS Haiti earth quake stories tend to focus on Americas contribution to humanity andthe U.S. Army rescue efforts. How about the U.N. and other non Western contributions?U.N. has a very important and significant team. By all counts PBS should interview BanKi-Moon also. After all U.N. should be the main coordinating body in control and notAmerica. How about Chinas not so negligible contribution? Chinas rescue team diduncover the entrapped U.N. officer victims from the ruined U.N. office building

Not only PBS did not interview the Chinese rescue team but the U.S. media takes uponitself to criticized China for emphasized efforts to rescue the U.N. staff and her own U.N.team buried under the rubble. Luckily in this case Ban Ki-Moon came to Chinasdefense stating that Chinas rescue efforts is exemplary and balanced.

ASIAN VALUES AND U. N. PRINCIPLES (China Daily, Jan. 19, 2010)

Ban Ki-moon has entered the second half of his tenure as the UNsecretary-general when the world is still grappling with the financialcrisis, climate change, A/H1N1 flu virus, the Korean nuclear issue, thePalestinian question and other important matters. But despite makingevery effort to resolve these issues, Ban has fallen foul of the Westernmedia.

The Wall Street Journal has called him the "UN's invisible man" andcriticized him for lacking the charisma of his predecessors. TheEconomist has assailed him for his supposed lack of managing skills.And the Foreign Policy has said he has fallen short of providing globalleadership, and even ridiculed his English pronunciation.

Instead of hitting back at his critics, Ban has said he will accept their criticisms with modesty. He, however, has urged the Western mediato understand Asian values such as modesty and moderation, aswell as the UN's principles.

Ban, former top diplomat of the Republic of Korea, is the eighth UNsecretary-general and the second from Asia. As the supreme executiveofficial and the primary representative of the UN, the secretaries-generalenjoy a very high status in the international community. But becausethey are always in the spotlight, they become the target of criticisms andbitter remarks.


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needs moderate mediators and not bullies , and has developed a newparadigm to resolve thorny international issues. Nurtured by Asianvalues such as modesty, moderation and harmony , he has made greatefforts to balance all the forces, handle discords, coordinate withcountries in matters of their national interests and taken appropriateaction with the support of all the stakeholders.

The Asian diplomatic and organizational culture that he has introducedin the UN enshrines action rather than words , respects diligence andpragmatism, advocates unity between knowledge and practice, anddeals with international conflicts with the "maximum extent of cooperation, compromise and flexibility". This is very important, becauseas a family of 192 countries the UN's chief canon should be harmony indiversity . Ban may not appear charismatic to people who had gottenused to the personality of his predecessor Kofi Annan. But they shouldknow that in the long run, Asian diplomatic culture would become aprecious asset for the UN. A UN that accommodates and fuses Westernand Eastern cultures will definitely be more vigorous and competent.

As ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu has said: "The supreme goodis like water, which nourishes all things without trying to" . This moralityassociated with water, which is beneficial to others but seeks no rewardor praise, is venerated by Eastern civilizations. It is also the state thatthe UN secretary-general from Asia is seeking to reach - to do thingswell, share the credit with others but accept the blame alone, not to

haggle over personal benefit and reputation, and be an "invisible man ".Doesn't such a personality deserve respect and appreciation?

The authors are researchers at the School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China.

asian values and united nations principles, persoal stories

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