Like China, most other Asian governments have avoided condemning the intervention over Libya. India's stance against the action is something of an exception. But Asian acquiescence should not be mistaken as acceptance. It is not principle that has guided this but pragmatic calculation, once Arab nations supported the action over Libya. Questions continue across the region, even if few at present vent this publicly.
Asian attitudes could yet be important, especially if the Libyan situation wears on and the Allied bombing widens. There may also be broader implications for the future. The Western powers who lead the intervention face economic travails at home while Asians and others who are on the sidelines continue to grow rapidly.
Will Western interventions be countenanced in future, when Asians and others rise to parity? Or is what we see in Libya a last hurrah for the Western powers? If intervention by force is unacceptable, how will Asians keep peace?
Asians distrust intervention from past instinct. Historically, Western powers often used force to interfere, with humanitarian or other just cause, to justify the building of their empires. The Libyan case does not help by being led by France and the UK, the old colonisers.
Asians look sceptically for double standards and self-interest. Some regional comments consider the cases of Libya and Bahrain, where the military is also putting down resistance, albeit with less force, and accuse the West of a double standard. Nor has it escaped attention that the West was pursuing commercial relations to secure oil and gas and economic gain from the Gadhafi regime.
Most Asians also look at the practice of intervention, rather than being swayed by rhetoric and principle. Some now champion intervention as stemming from the responsibility to protect. But many will look to see whether the West is able and has the will to ensure a sustainable and stable outcome or will quite irresponsibly leave things in a mess.
A fourth reason is that many Asians have their own sensitivities, close to home. China has Tibet and minorities that trigger concern in some Western quarters, while India is sensitive over the Kashmiri question, and Koreans will worry about possible intervention in neighbouring North Korea.
Inequality is an underlying reason for Asian disquiet about intervention. Currently, Asian militaries do not have the ability to intervene as the Western powers can, with aerial firepower that largely shields them from commiting lives in large numbers. Expect that in the wake of Libya, those who can afford it - like China - will seek to ramp up their military capabilities.
For others without such means or ambitions, they will continue to champion principles like sovereignty and be wary of "humanitarian intervention" and other ideas that make sovereignty conditional. But while Asians do not license interventions by force, this does not mean they will simply stand by in the face of unacceptable violence and a disregard for civilian life.
A normative community is emerging in Asia and especially Asean. Led by Indonesia, Asean has this year agreed to send observers to the Thai-Cambodian border, where territorial disputes and armed skirmishes have already cost lives. In Timor Leste, Asean has played a role in the past to keep peace in tandem with Australia, and, with elections again coming to the new state, efforts should again be made to try to pre-empt any violence.
Asians remain shy about the use of force even when humanitarian protection is the reason. Preventative efforts that use diplomatic means will be preferred. This is understandable for societies that have been on the receiving end of such interventions and remain unable to intervene. But attitudes can change as regional communities coalesce and, if force is taboo, then other tools must be made to work.
What happens in Libya will be watched closely by Asians. Some will remain sceptical and snipe at Western power and policy. But others will wrestle with the issues knowing that, in a future perhaps not so far away, the region may no longer have the luxury of simply standing on the sidelines. Asians will need to prepare their own ways to maintain peace.
Simon Tay is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
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