The future is Asian, argues the respected analyst, Parag Khanna. But this piece of conventional wisdom needs unwrapping. Geographically, Asia is no more a continent than is Europe. “Asia” itself is not even an Asian idea: Europeans invented it. Asians did not conceive of themselves as being part of a single continental entity. The region is too vast and diverse for that to have been possible.It still is. What is happening is rather a global rebalancing, as the historically brief, but world-changing, domination over humanity of Europe and its colonial progeny dwindles away. A multipolar and messy world will replace it. Will “Asia” make up a huge part of this? Certainly. China and India will be actors. But Asia is rather an arena than an actor.
未来属于亚洲，备受尊敬的分析师帕拉格•康纳(Parag Khanna)如此认为。但这条已被人们普遍接受的论断有必要展开来细说。从地理上讲，亚洲与欧洲都不是一个大陆。“亚洲”本身甚至不是亚洲人的概念：欧洲人发明了这个词。亚洲人过去并没有觉得自己属于一个单独的大陆。这个地区太过广袤和多样，以至于不可能产生这样的念头。