To find solutions to problems and conflicts affecting the entire Earth, both individuals and governments need to improve their communication skills. © Reuters/NASA
The past few years have thrown a lot of challenges at the world and brought various hardships. Our hope is therefore especially strong that 2024 marks the start of a shift toward a more positive way forward.
In Ukraine, there is no end in sight to the war of nearly two years. Meanwhile, the conflict that erupted last October when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel has continued into the new year. These events underscore the stark reality that war, once unleashed, is difficult to rein in. We hope the two wars end soon, but it is also important that these conflagrations are prevented from expanding further.
In Asia, North Korea is steadily developing missiles, while China’s military expansion is ratcheting up tensions in the East and South China seas as well as the Taiwan Strait. Such threats need to be addressed through cooperative efforts among the U.S., Japan, South Korea and other parties to build up deterrence. But enhancing deterrence risks triggering an endless arms race. So these countries must also use diplomacy as a tool for resolving mutual distrust.
In this regard the U.S.-China summit last November was a significant step forward, as the leaders agreed to resume dialogue between military officials to avoid clashes that could spiral out of control. The most effective way for the democratic camp to deal with authoritarian states like China, Russia and North Korea is to communicate directly with their powerful leaders.
Democratic countries also have to address their own problems, including internal divisions. Issues related to income disparity, religion and race can disrupt public opinion and heighten the risk of dangerous social rifts. 2024 will see many important elections around the globe, starting with Taiwan’s presidential vote in January and followed by elections for the Russian presidency in March, South Korea’s parliament in April and the U.S. presidency in November.
In January 2021, supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump, angry with the result of the presidential election, occupied the Capitol in Washington. Now much attention is focused on Trump, who aims to win this year’s presidential race. Whichever candidate — Democrat or Republican — wins, the challenge of mending the country’s divisions will remain.
The basic principles of democracy hold that elections are fair, citizens accept the results of votes, and problems are resolved through debates among lawmakers. The danger posed by internal divisions means that dialogue has become more important even in democratic countries.
Dialogue is also of crucial importance in the economic field. The U.S. and China are exchanging such hard-line measures as punitive tariffs and economic sanctions. It is troubling that the influence of international bodies like the World Trade Organization has weakened and thus slowed the momentum for settling conflicts through dialogue.
Global cooperation is indispensable to setting rules governing borderless digital technologies like generative artificial intelligence. More dialogue needs to occur between developed and developing countries on ways to cooperate in addressing global challenges such as climate change and infectious diseases.
The three years of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted opportunities for communication on various fronts, including diplomacy, business, academics and tourism. As conversation on social media tends to create division and confrontation, face-to-face contact is more important than ever.
2024 should be a year for increasing dialogue at the national, corporate and individual levels. We should polish our skills to settle problems though communication — not through violence.
Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/The-Nikkei-View/More-dialogue-needed-to-avoid-global-divisions
