Harvard expert: Survival from financial crisis highlights 2009

The fact that the international community has survived the financial crisis makes the year 2009 "very different" from 2008, and the Group of 20 (G20) has played are markable role in global governance, said Joseph Nye, a famous professor at Harvard University.

ECONOMIC GROWTH TOPS CHALLENGES

"The most important thing is that we have survived the financial crisis of the last year. And this is the beginning of the revival of economic growth that makes this year very different from the last year," said Nye in a recent interview with Xinhua, adding that a firm economic growth is the key to addressing other challenges.

"The most important challenge will be to maintain the progress of the world economy, to make sure that we don't forget the time of imbalances that led to the crisis of the last year. Without the firm economic growth, it would be difficult to solve many of problems that we face," said Nye.

The establishment of G20 probably is "the most important step" in global governance, according to Nye. The international actions of major economies "will be the most important framework" for maintaining the firm growth of the world economy in the coming years.

Though G20 has played an important role in global governance, in Nye's opinion, however, the "spillover effect" would not act onG20 to transform the inter-governmental economic organization into a political organization.

"It doesn't want to lose its focus by dealing with all the issues. It will primarily focus on the international economy," he said.

SECURITY ISSUES REMAIN UNSOLVED

According to Nye, tough security issues, such as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, nuclear deadlock in Iran and on the Korean Peninsula, and the Middle East peace process, would remain unsolved in the coming year, but "the war in Afghanistan will probably be on the top of the list even with U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to enforce troops there."

As to the nuclear proliferation threat, Nye said the United States will seek the multilateral six-party framework to address its concern over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

The United States does not believe that such an issue can be solved bilaterally, Nye said. "It is a multilateral problem. It does belong to the six-party talks."

On Iran's nuclear issue, Nye said there was "some chance that Iran may reach an agreement," but the key is that Iran must live up to its international obligations. "I don't think there would be any prospective attack by the Israelis if the Iranians live up to the agreement."

As to the peace process in the Middle East, the professor said that "it is difficult to see a long progress happening in a short time" though the international community will continue efforts to forward the process.

RELATIONS AMONG POWERS IMPROVED

In the year of 2009, the U.S. relations with the European Union, Russia and China have been improved under the Obama administration, said Nye, who has strongly suggested that the United States develop a "smart power" to ensure its national security and maintain its dominance in the international system.

According to Nye, the smart power means the combination of hard and soft power tools into successful strategies.

The Obama administration, by integrating the smart power into its foreign policy, has decided to exercise its leadership to build partnership and solve problems that no nation can solve on its own, Nye said. Clearly, a stable structure of relations is good for the powers' respective national interests and for global governance as well.

"It is very important for the United States and China to manage their relationship well because of their impact on the world economy," said the professor. However, he opposed the so-called Group Two, or G2, concept which means the United States and China form a strategic structure to manage global affairs.

"I think that the G2 is a mistake, because the issues we have to deal with are broader ... We also need to have cooperation with Europe, Japan and others," said Nye.

"The United States regards a united Europe as an important partner in dealing with both economic and security issues that include both the European Union on the economic side, and NATO on the military side," he added.

Nye said he was encouraged by the good progress made by the Obama administration in its first year. "The administration has set a new tone for the U.S. foreign policy. Its actions in cherishing the development of G20 as a new multilateralism, and in improving bilateral relations with Europe, Russia, China and Japan, are important steps."

Source: Xinhua