The world seems to be entering into a recession. If we are in a recession， we certainly don't know how deep or prolonged it will be. What does seem clear， however， is that the three great Asian economies will be less affected than those of Europe and the Americas.

　　This poses both problems and opportunities. The problems lie in the strangeness of the great Asian nations to those of us in the West. Japan， China and India are all very remote from us， and there are huge cultural and linguistic barriers to communication.

　　I can't think of any top politician (or financial leader) in the U.S. or Europe who speaks fluent--even halting--Japanese， Chinese or Hindi. We know shamefully little of these three very complicated countries' histories. Finance imposes an international jargon of its own， but beyond that superficial level it's hard for Westerners to understand the mind-set of those making the fundamental decisions concerning the future in Asian capitals and markets.

　　Now is the time for us to take steps to entice Asians to enter more fully and responsibly into determining the direction of the world. The West is no longer strong enough to carry the burden of leading， defending， fine-tuning and advancing the civilization of the world. It seems to me that for some years now we've been handling this less surely， willingly and successfully than before. The burden has become too heavy. Some Western nations--particularly Germany， France， Italy and Spain--don't even carry their own modest share of it. We must redistribute the load by bringing the Asians on board.