We are living in Asia’s century. State department global trend analysis has noted that ‘ Asia’s growing importance in the global political economy is one of the most fundamental and rapid changes since the turn of the millennium”.

the Year 2050 is estimated over half of the global economy right at home in Asia. Three of the world’s four largest economies (China, India and Indonesia) are estimated to be asian. The shift does not seem to be a historical parenthesis. The world’s best performing students are asian. Four of the six countries that spend the most on research and development in the region. The western dominance of our modern civilization emerged during a closed chapter. Sweden has a good base of knowledge in order to meet this development?

the Swedish Asienstrategin recommended ”a deepening and broadening of Asienkunnandet in Sweden” and an ”enhanced academic kompetensutbyggnad with a focus on Asia”.

Twenty years later, Jacob Hernborg Axelson identified the education and research on Asia in the humanities and social sciences in Sweden on behalf of Lund university and the Swedish institute of international affairs. The report shows that the Swedish society has not responded to the two-decades-old advice. On the contrary, in a time when more knowledge is needed about Asia’s languages, societies and political systems, is a Swedish Asienkunnande and stomps.

we Look at research on Asia, the picture is disappointing. Only just over 2 per cent of the Swedish research funding in the humanities and social sciences goes to Asieninriktade projects. No major long-term bets on the Asienforskning have been carried out since the middle of the 00’s.

2018 gave the Association a total of 235 fortbildningsstipendier to its members. Of these scholarships went 55 to stays in the united states, and only four for stays in Asia.

. Sveriges universitets – och högskoleförbund out that all of the most neglected languages of the courses are asian. The number of students studying chinese has dropped by almost a third since the peak in 2012. For hindi has studentantalet halved from an already low level. Schools of asian studies. Studentantalet has risen from low levels, but the geographical distribution of the courses is very limited.

The alarming situation is reflected in other parts of the society. 2018 gave the Association a total of 235 fortbildningsstipendier to its members. Of these scholarships went 55 to stays in the united states, and only four for stays in Asia. The world’s two most populous countries, China and India, was no visit by the Swedish journaliststipendiater in the last round.

What we feel to mastered not a single one of the 349 mps one of the major languages in East and South asia, as chinese, hindi, bengali, japanese, urdu, indonesian, vietnamese, Korean, or thai. China may be the world’s next superpower. Think about the Sweden of 100 years ago had not had a single English-speaking parliamentarians, when the united states stood on the threshold of becoming the world’s most powerful country?

It is of great importance for our country’s competitiveness and the future of jobs. Sweden is already today more with Asia than with north America. Two of the three specially designated countries in the government’s export strategy is asian. The EU underlines that economic growth in Asia is inextricably linked with Europe’s future prosperity.

the Swedish companies have large and growing presence in Asia. Ericsson currently employs more people in India than in Sweden. The interest is mutual. The number of employees in asian-owned businesses in Sweden rose by almost 350 per cent between the years 2000 and 2017.

In this spirit, Sweden and India in 2018, entered into an innovation partnership. It is an agreement that relates to many areas of technical cooperation. Targeted investments to deepen the knowledge about India in Sweden, or vice versa, are, however, included not in the partnership. Mutual benefit is important in a relationship, but a mutual understanding and be better prepared to make the relationship sustainable.

a number of asian countries use their economic growth, military modernisation. Asia stands at the centre of the reborn rivalry between the major powers. Through enhanced security cooperation with asian countries will be in Europe in the highest degree involved.

China’s financing of the development projects exceeds today the world bank’s total lending. Large donors such as Sweden need to handle this. Also in multilateral fora such as the WTO and the UN system, we see increased activity from several asian countries.

Sweden could become significantly better at dealing with Asia’s central role in the global economy, innovation and policy. It is, however, required a qualitative and stable domestic kunskapsförsörjning; the need for a solid foundation of knowledge on Asia is clear. Swedish Asienkunnande could be strengthened significantly by the following actions:

1 An updated strategy for asia with a view on how Sweden’s relations with Asia should be developed to 2030. the Strategy should be resurssatt and contain concrete recommendations for a comprehensive skills about Asia in the public sector in Sweden.

2 Establishment of a coordinating council with the responsibility to monitor the implementation of the Asienstrategin. Representatives from civil society, government, business, universities and research institutes are included. The council may, inter alia, the task to arrange an annual Asienkonferens.

3 , A graduate school be established with a number of universities as nodes. the Graduate school shall be subject and faculty. Particular focus is on the ”global Asia”, that is to say, how Asia is affecting the world and the world affects Asia.

4 Sweden keeps a high profile in cooperation in the field of european Asienforskning. in Particular, support to the Swedish coordination of the european networks contribute to this.

5 Government pushes to targeted resources for research on Asia from a development, foreign and security policy perspective for example, a Norwegian venture, which recently carried out.

6 Opportunities are introduced to study the ASSOCIATION of selected major asian languages where the courses today are missing completely at Swedish universities.

in Order to be ready, we should immediately upgrade our Asienkunnande. If we choose not to act, we run the risk, however, to be worth.