Can Asians stand up on own feet?

Comments on Ryo Sahashi “A three-tier approach to Asian regional architecture", 20/05/2009, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/05/20/a-three-tier-approach-to-asian-regional-architecture/#more-4179

I have a quick comment first and will provide more comment latter on.

The point or the approach that Ryo Sahashi is making does not quite match the title of the article. Or, maybe it is the other way round, the title does not match well with the content. Anyway, it seems that we have got here a wrong labelling of product. It may reflect the complexity of the reality as well as some entrenched / long held thinking among some people.

The title is "A three-tier approach to Asian regional architecture". According to this title, one would have thought that this is a matter for Asian countries. But in the article, Ryo Sahashi goes on to talk about G-2 (US and China) and “China-Japan-U.S. trilateral dialogue”. In both and probably the third tier, one cannot fail to see the US as a key player in them.

Is the US an Asian country? Or is the author talking about some other arrangements than the Asian region? If it is about Asian regional affairs, why does the author have to drag the US from America not Asia into this? Why not get any other regional powers into it? I have been left wondering.

One can't help have the impression after reading this article that Asians can't survive or don't know how to do so without the US! How doomed are the Asians! Poor Asians!