The Voice of Asia: Two Leaders Discuss the Coming Century

A provocative dialogue, transcribed from meetings and written exchanges between Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Japanese politician-author Shintaro Ishihara, The Voice of Asia gives unprecedented insight into what Ishihara calls "the paramount reality of the mid-1990s - the retreat of the West and the increasing dynamism of Asia". The book finds the pair in fundamental agreement. Mahathir claims that Japan provided the model for Malaysia's development; Ishihara urges his country to leave off deferring to the United States and return to the Asian fold. Can the West take up this challenge, or is the Asian era really at hand? Here is a world-view as foreign to the Western reader as most Western values are to Asians. But as the balance of economic power slips inexorably toward the East, there is a greater need than ever to come to grips with the emerging Asian ethos. The Voice of Asia is the best briefing available.