ENDEAVOR
Dr. Dae-Whan Chang, founder and chair of Korea’s Maekyung Media Group, a diversified media company owning publishing, broadcasting and digital properties, including the daily Maeil Business News, welcomed participants at the 25th World Knowledge Forum (WKF) held in Incheon last Sept. 9-11.
He showed a modified version of his opening remarks of the first edition of the annual event in 2000, produced through generative artificial intelligence (AI). Maekyung Media Group is a diversified media company owning publishing, broadcasting and digital properties.
As he stood behind the podium, a giant-screen backdrop showed his image, circa 2000, credibly delivering a message for the reenacted opening of the annual forum that integrated the substantive elements culled from a sweep of its 25-year history.
Speaking on the theme Journey Towards Coexistence, he underscored: “Amidst a shifting geopolitical balance of power, unprecedented new technologies are emerging and fundamentally transforming human lives.” This he said, provides the impetus for heightened tolerance and cooperation:
“(H)umanity faces a new challenge: to coexist and collaborate in a world unlike any we have experienced before. Now more than ever, we need the wisdom to respect one another and live together shoulder to shoulder, transcending conflicts based on gender, generation, ideology, culture, environment, and individual differences.”
He pointed out that homo sapiens, the species to which all modern human beings belong, has two forward pathways: homo symbious and homo technicus.
Symbiosis refers to “the living together in more or less intimate association, or close union of two dissimilar organisms, as in parasitism or commensalism.” In a broader sense, it refers to “a cooperative relationship, as between two persons or groups, as exemplified by the relationship between the resident population and the immigrants.
As defined by Linked-in: “Homo technicus is a human living in symbiosis with the technology and the machines. A human constantly connected to the digital world (the Internet, the Cloud, the World's Information, and so forth). This human will have access to a digital personal assistant that will answer any questions or execute any commands.”
In seeking to promote harmonious coexistence, mutual support, understanding, and respect among nations for joint development, WKF 24 focused on four main topics: International Situations; the Future of Artificial Intelligence (AI): A Sustainable World; Business and Innovation.
Following Dr. Chang’s welcome address, South Korean President Yun Sook Yeol weighed in on his own views on the WKF theme. He said that it has become even more imperative to promote global solidarity at a time when authoritarianism forces seek to undermine pluralism through the persistent propagation of fake news and deep fakes. He called for sustained efforts to uphold democracy and further expand the frontiers of freedom.
For the past 25 years, Dr. Chang has brought together prominent heads of state such as former US President George W. Bush, former UK Prime Minister Theresa May, former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy; and former Germany Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Following President Yeol’s speech, former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen focused on the road to coexistence in ASEAN, that he said, is best achieved through multilateralism. He commended the beneficiality of ASEAN centrality as embodied in the following principles: consensus-based decision-making; non-interference, neutrality, and peaceful conflict resolution. He cited ASEAN’s current efforts to help bring about a return to normalcy in Myanmar.
He also principles for fostering ASEAN prosperity. The region is now the fifth largest economic power, with a combined population of 600 million and a gross domestic product of $3 trillion. Also thriving is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free trade agreement among the Asia-Pacific countries of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This, in turn, has brought about “free, open, inclusive, and fair multilateralism and beamed the spotlight on a more auspicious scenario for the attainment of the ASEAN Vision 2045 for a region that is people-centered, and where inclusive prosperity guarantees that no one is left behind.
Since it began in 2000, the other notables who have graced the World Knowledge Forum were: Jim Yong Kim, the 12th President of the World Bank, and founders and executives of major companies like Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation; Larry Ellison, chairman and CEO of Oracle Corporation; John L. Hennessy, chairman of Alphabet; and George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management; and leading economists such as Larry Summers, Paul Krugman, Michael Porter, and Gregory Mankiw.
This year’s silver jubilee edition featured prominent world leaders such as Hun Sen, President of the Cambodian People's Party and President of the Senate of Cambodia; Mauricio Macri, former President of Argentina; Naftali Bennett, former Prime Minister of Israel; and Katalin Novák, former President of Hungary.
Seeing and listening to Cambodian senior leader Hun Sen sparked vivid memories of this writer’s stint while serving as President Benigno S. Aquino III’s press secretary. I recalled seeing him preside over the 21st ASEAN Summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November 2012.
Then Japanese Premier Yoshihiko Noda “challenged efforts by summit host Cambodia, a staunch China ally, to limit discussions on the mineral-rich South China Sea, where China’s territorial claims overlap those of four Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan.”
PNoy also stood at the plenary, disputing Hun Sen’s earlier declaration that an “ASEAN consensus” had been attained. He asserted that the Philippines will “defend its national interest.” This declaration culminated in a favorable ruling by the arbitral tribunal in The Hague that upheld the Philippines’ claims and effectively nullified China’s much-vaunted nine-dash line theory.
Despite their differences, PNoy and Hun Sen enjoyed many cordial moments at the sidelines of the ASEAN and similar summits. Hun Sen has since passed on the baton to his son, Hun Manet, as Cambodia’s new Prime Minister, and has stepped up to be an advocate for ASEAN centrality and a flourishing regional economy.