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| A woman wearing a mask looks at her mobile phone amid social distancing measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in Myeongdong shopping district in Seoul, May 28, 2020. Reuters |
By Emanuel Pastreich
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The crisis has filled some with despair, especially those who find themselves stranded around the world in unexpected places. I came to Korea on a short business trip in February from Washington D.C. and I am still here.
But in this crisis lies a real opportunity to create an interest that serves as the platform for meaningful and constructive interactions between citizens around the world. That new internet could be the core element for a new generation of public diplomacy that goes far beyond public relations and image building to be the basis for deep dialog and cooperation between citizens, experts and government officials around the world who are wrestling with common issues and striving to establish new norms and conventions the midst of unprecedented change.
As I am in Asia right now, I want to focus on what I have seen on multiple occasions at international seminars and conventions.
A group of experts from various countries, government ministers, or professors, or businessmen, gather together before or after an event. We have seen these events hundreds of times. The people present are nervous about talking to others. Often the people at these events, even high-ranking people fluent in English, do not talk to each other at all. If they do, it is to exchange light pleasantries in broken English, and then they quickly break off the conversation and scuttle away from each other.
Although the plane tickets and hotels required to bring these experts together are expensive, there is little, or no, serious dialogue between them ― despite the remarkable amount of know-how that they have to share. Sadly, in most cases, they will leave the expensive events organized by government, or industry, the same way that they came: as mutual strangers. The gatherings over expensive meals will lead to no commitment for future cooperation, or even awareness of the wisdom and knowledge belonging to the others at the event.
If the representatives from across Asia who attend international summits and conferences could actually speak seriously with each other at any length, there would be an immense amount that they could learn from each other. For example, they might learn about how their peers in other countries are using innovative administrative strategies that they could adopt. Or they might learn how new technologies used in manufacturing vastly improve productivity internationally.
But that depth of exchange will never come from the brief introductions over wine that normally take place at international events.
We must create, and in a sense engineer, an environment wherein exchanges are coaxed along and encouraged to flower into a meaningful dialogue.
The current environment and the push for online exchange could increase such meaningful dialog and reduce the destruction of the environment resulting from air travel at the same time.
Most companies trying to exploit online exchanges are thinking more in terms of profit, and not in terms of creating a better world, and deeper exchange. But we can take control of the situation and move in a better direction. Diplomats, business people and citizens around the world can work together to create an internet for the people. This will be true public diplomacy and such a move will be central to my administration.
We can take some steps to create real dialog. For instance, experts from different countries could form teams online and engage in various activities that will encourage them to loosen up and get to know each other at their convenience. New translation software makes it increasingly possible to allow specialized dialog between people from different countries who work on similar issues.
It is often assumed in Asia that one must drink alcohol to relax and get to know each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can climb a mountain, bake a pie, or sing songs together as a means of establishing a relaxed and inviting environment. But if you are online, there is also any number of games and exchanges, including the exchange of art and personal information, that can help to build deep relations between those who have never met in person.
Online written exchanges (chatting with intent) could afford the greatest opportunities for deep and constructive exchanges that lead to cooperation.
In many cases, written exchanges with individuals one has never met can produce better content and deeper exchanges than actually meeting someone in person.
The key for success is to create an environment for these internet-based discussions that is free from distractions and in which the significance of the dialog remains preeminent in the minds of the participants.
Unfortunately, most online exchanges are extremely limited and do not encourage deep thinking. That does not have to be the case.
We can take a few steps that will make participants aware of the significance of the online "chat" and get them to focus and to take it seriously.
In the case of Asia, or for that matter of Europe, it is a great irony that there was a deeper discourse between leading intellectuals in the 18th century than there is today. In the case of East Asia, "penned conversations" (or?bitan???in Chinese) were carried out in literary Chinese between those who met at diplomatic gatherings who could not understand each other's languages. They also wrote to each other with deep meditations on philosophy and international relations.
Surviving letters from that period reveal a remarkable attention to detail that involved creative thinking about how to solve problems.
As research by Professor Jung Min of Hanyang University has shown, the intellectual engagement between major intellectuals in the 18th and 19th centuries in East Asia extended to all aspects of culture and politics.
Until the 20th century, educated people in East Asia knew classical Chinese well and were capable of carrying on extremely sophisticated conversations in that language. Today, many educated people in East Asia have a good knowledge of English, but they do not necessarily have the command of the language sufficient to engage in a detailed conversation.
Therefore, we need to create an environment in which the important figures from Korea, China, Japan, the U.S. and elsewhere engage in serious online discussions that are mediated by high-quality translations that ensure that they can communicate freely about serious topics.
To some degree, this kind of exchange can be conducted using translation software. My experience, however, is that such efforts are quite limited in impact and in effectiveness.
I would suggest rather that if four experts from Korea, China, Japan and the U.S. start an online discussion about a given topic, their posts are translated within a few minutes by professional translators into the three other languages and then posted on the pages used by the other experts. The topics can be extremely specific, like policies for encouraging local farming or strategies for promoting international trade for local firms. But by linking experts in each country without the burden of speaking in a foreign language, we can thereby link likes with likes, rather than relying on those who speak English fluently but have no expertise.
The online discussion in three or more languages makes possible true exchange of best practices and ideas that would otherwise be impossible. It also opens the way for a new form of international collaboration.
We need to create a constant dialog between experts in Korea, China, Japan, the U.S. and elsewhere in which they exchange opinions in written form with and engage in a discourse aimed at the long-term improvement of our society.
These online "asynchronous symposiums" can be held over a week, and in some cases the content can be published as articles or reports for the public.
If these asynchronous symposiums catch on, we can expect an ongoing online, written communication between policymakers in China, Korea, Japan, the U.S. and elsewhere that will serve as the source for long-term meaningful cooperation.
There are so many important issues in the world that require the collaboration of these experts from around the world, from trade and investment, to North Korea's nuclear program and climate change. We must make sure that this trilateral summit remains "sustainable" and that it will be held regularly regardless of differences of opinion.
Such online discussion can be for high-ranking officials, but they could also just as well be for working-level public servants, or owners of small companies, or for citizens around the world.
We often assume that diplomacy is a ritualistic interaction between static and unchanging groups that work out a compromise that meets their unchanging interests. But there are moments in which one can achieve a meeting of minds, wherein the players are transformed by the process and come out of the event seeing the world, and each other, differently.
Nevertheless, I would suggest that there are certain symbolic and substantial steps that can be made that will set a new tone for these talks and thereby create a positive cycle.
Could we create a meeting in which they discuss the challenges that their countries face with each other, not as part of a negotiation, but rather as a sincere intellectual exchange whose purpose is improving the lives of their people?
We can create a space in which leaders are intellectually engaged, interacting with each other, but are not playing a formal role but can build a deeper relationship. Triggering a bit of intellectual curiosity through an exchange can do much to transform the rest of the meetings.
Finally, we should not underestimate the potential of musicians and artists to transform the discussion online. Summits follow strict rituals and protocol that make it impossible to think outside the box. But introduce musicians or painters into the event and suddenly things can take a different turn.
Artists should be right there with the heads of state, engaging them in conversations, or suggesting creative ways of looking at the issues that not only will break down the barriers between the leaders, but will also suggest new avenues.
Comedy is especially helpful as a way to encourage a more flexible and creative solution to a problem.
If we just focus on problems, and how to solve them, then all we see are problems. But if we brainstorm about new opportunities and potential, the excitement and the optimism generated in that process can transform the problems into something more manageable, or even into unexpected opportunities.
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