赵海：在多极化背景下重审“亚洲价值”

Club提要：2025年12月6日至8日，多哈论坛（Doha Forum 2025）在卡塔尔首都多哈举办。论坛期间，北京对话举办题为“亚洲在全球变局中的角色：文明智慧与当代挑战”的圆桌对话，探讨亚洲如何在全球南北之间架起桥梁，推动更加公平的全球治理。中国社会科学院全球战略智库国际政治研究部主任、北京对话特约专家赵海发言呼吁在多极化背景下重审“亚洲价值”，主张以善治替代西式民主、用家庭纽带抵御极端个人主义、以主权平等和人权多元抵制“人权”旗号下的颠覆，并呼吁亚洲从东亚到中东跨越地域藩篱，共创共享发展经验与非西方中心的新治理框架。

北京对话获授权发布赵海教授发言原文及中译版如下：

非常感谢主持人的邀请，也非常感谢上一位发言者就这个非常重要的议题所分享的观点。不过，我们是从不同的角度看待问题。我认为，当我们对于如何建立亚洲的特殊视角存在不同看法时，出现不同的主张是非常正常的。

大约三十年前，围绕“亚洲价值观”有一场非常广泛的讨论。那时，新加坡总理李光耀、马来西亚总理马哈蒂尔都提出，亚洲有自己独特的价值体系，与西方以及世界其他地区有所不同，人们应当尊重这种价值，并基于这种价值来发展亚洲的经济和社会。然而，当时“亚洲价值”受到许多西方评论家、学者以及政治人物的抨击。

李光耀与马哈蒂尔（图源：新华社）

如今回过头看，我们可以理解原因所在：当时正值全球化的高潮，西方社会谈论“历史的终结”，因此难以容忍来自其他地区的不同视角或叙事，不愿接受一个不同的价值体系。但是今天，情况已经发生改变，尤其是在刚才李世默提到美国最新的国家安全战略之后。这份文件不再是美国对于未来愿景的规划，而是对现实的承认——即我们已经处于一个多极世界之中。

因此，我认为，现在重新点燃、回到关于“亚洲价值观”的讨论，并对其进行正确理解，是非常恰当的。我们必须思考：究竟什么是亚洲价值？亚洲人共同拥有的核心理念是什么？

赵海发言（图源：北京对话）

首先，在治理上存在明显不同。亚洲的治理模式并非必然建立在西式民主上。只要一个社会、一个政府能够提供善治，那这个政治制度就是适合其人民的。如今在一个后单极、后霸权的多极世界里，各国都有基于其文明理念自主选择政治制度的权利。

其次，在亚洲，家庭价值极为重要。在西方，讲多元、平等、包容当然是好的，但当这些理念被推向极端时，就可能演变为极端个人主义。从亚洲视角看，这会破坏社会的基本结构。尤其在当今快速发展的科技时代，年轻人沉迷于手机和社交媒体，容易陷入信息茧房，难以维持健康的社会联系。因此，在亚洲，继续弘扬以家庭为核心的价值体系、促进社会纽带与健康的社会关系，对未来的人类发展至关重要，特别是在全球人工智能迅速发展的背景下。

第三，我们必须重新审视“主权”观念。主权概念源自约四百年前的威斯特伐利亚体系，如今世界基本由主权国家所构成。然而，我们必须从历史和现实出发重新理解主权。当前，特朗普大谈美国“主权”，但他并不尊重他国主权，只是强调“美国优先”，将美国主权置于他国之上。一些西方国家亦如此，表面上谈平等，但实际上仍将主权作等级划分。亚洲将继续坚持在各层面——不仅是联合国，而是所有国际组织——主权平等的原则，各国边界及主权权利均应受到尊重。同时，那些以“人权”名义来颠覆主权的行为，往往在更大程度和范围上破坏人权。

接下来，我想谈谈人权。以东盟为例，十多年前东盟达成了《东盟人权宣言》，其基础可追溯至1993年的《曼谷宣言》。非洲也有自己的《非洲人权和民族权利宪章》。这些文件与《世界人权宣言》既相似又存在差异，各自具有独特特征。在中国以及许多亚洲国家，对人权的理解也不同。这些争论长期在联合国及各种国际场合中存在。但在当今世界，越来越多人理解：尽管我们对人权的定义不同，但全球南方——占世界人口的绝大多数——正在追求最基本的独立、自由和发展权。只有政府的公共服务能满足人民的基本需求之后，才有可能讨论高度道德化、政治化的人权概念。因此，各国可以讨论人权，但必须认识到：不同文明、不同情境下，人权的含义并不相同。保持透明的对话非常重要。亚洲国家应继续合作，寻找最大公约数，共同推动一种并非完全欧陆中心、西方中心的人权理念。

1948年12月10日，联合国大会通过《世界人权宣言）（图源：罗斯福总统图书馆暨博物馆）

最后，我们今天在卡塔尔聚集，讨论“从亚洲看世界”，“亚洲”的定义本身就是一个值得探讨的议题。在不同论坛，当人们谈“亚洲”时，指涉范围各不相同——有时指东亚，有时指“印太”（一个没有确切含义的地缘政治概念），有时包括中东（但中东与北非一起常被称为MENA），以及南亚地区。但事实上，亚洲包含从东亚、东南亚、南亚到中东的所有区域。我们同属一个大陆，分享多元文化、文明与历史，同时也怀有同样的愿望：变得更繁荣，让人民过上更好的生活。所以，本次论坛非常契合这样的宗旨——让我们汇聚一堂，分享最佳实践，寻找最大公约数，并共同向着未来的发展目标迈进。谢谢大家。

部分发言嘉宾合影（图源：北京对话）

以下为英文原文：

Thank you very much for inviting me, and I really appreciate the previous speaker's points on sharing their view on this very important issue. But we're coming from a different perspective. The argument is very normal when we have different views on how to establish Asia's particular angle or perspective.

I think this year, if you look back exactly about 30 years ago, we have a very broad discussion about “Asian Values”. Back then, Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, and also Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir, both suggested that Asia has its own particular value that is different from the West, different from other parts of the world, and people should respect that value. Based upon that value, Asian societies can develop their economy, their society, in a better way. However, back then, Asian Values were attacked by a lot of Western commentators, scholars, and politicians.

Now, looking back, we can understand why, because that was a time of high tide of globalization, where people in the West are talking about “the end of history”. They cannot tolerate a very different perspective or different narrative on a different value system. But today, particularly after Eric Li talked about the new US National Security Strategy, that is no longer a vision or an outlook for the future, but actually a verification of reality: a multipolar world is what we are in now.

I think it's proper for us to reignite the discussion and have a proper understanding of what is exactly the Asian Values. What is it that the Asians share with each other, for instance? So I think if we go back, we can discover, first of all, there's a very different talk about governance, which is not necessarily based upon Western-style democracy. As long as a society and its government can deliver and provide good governance, then that particular political system is fit for their own people. I think now we can all recognize that in a post-unipolar, post-hegemonic multipolar world, countries and peoples with different civilizations, with different history, have the right to choose their own political system.

And secondly, I think it's very important in Asia, we all recognize the importance of family value. In the West, it's good to talk about DEI, but sometimes, when you push it to the extreme, you’ll have a radical form of individualism. It could be very destructive to the social fabric. Particularly, in today's very rapidly developing technological world, where young people are tied to their cell phones, their social media apps, it's easy to divide people into information blocks or cocoons, and in many ways, they cannot form a healthy social connection. I think it's very important that we continue to promote family value, continue to promote a social bond that is healthy for future human development, especially in the face of the impact of AI development globally.

And number three, just now we talk about sovereignty, right? Sovereignty is a notion coming from the West about 400 years ago, based on the Westphalia system. Now we're pretty much in a world based upon sovereign nation states. However, we need to put sovereignty in historical and contemporary perspective. Trump often talks about sovereignty, but he doesn't actually respect other countries' sovereignty. It's always “America First”, American sovereignty perhaps above other countries' sovereignty. Some Western countries also very much think in that way--superficially talking about equality, but in action separate sovereignties in a hierarchical structure. So I think Asia needs to promote the idea that on any level, not just in the UN, but in every international organization, sovereignty is equal. And all the borders, all the sovereign rights should be respected. Meanwhile, we should be vigilant of any use of “human rights” to subvert sovereignty, because in the end, the damage to real human rights could be much bigger and wider.

Now, I’d like to talk about human rights. If you look at ASEAN, more than 10 years ago, had its own human rights declaration, which is based upon the Bangkok Declaration from 1993. In Africa, they have their human rights and ethnic declaration as well. They are similar yet different from the World Human Rights Declaration. And they have their own specific features. In China and many other Asian countries, we also have a different understanding of human rights. That issue has always been articulated and argued at the United Nations and in various international forums. But I think in today's world, more and more people realized that even though we have different definition of human rights, but the Global South, where the majority of human beings on this earth reside, is trying to pursue some basic development rights, some basic public goods and services provided by their government that satisfy their basic needs before they can talk about highly moralized, politicized notion of human rights.

Keep in mind that human rights mean different things in different civilizations and under different circumstances. It's very important to keep transparent dialogue for Asian countries to work together to find a common ground and the biggest common denominator, and push forward with that idea of human rights, aside from a Euro-centered or Western-centered abstract.

And finally, when we gather together in this particular location, which is Qatar, and contemplate “Asia in the world”, we have to rethink the definition of “Asia”. Because when we go to different forums to talk about Asia, where do we refer to? Sometimes people refer to East Asia, now they invented a new idea of Indo-Pacific. I don't even know what that's supposed to mean other than a geopolitical invention. And then here, people talk about Middle East. Sometimes you link Middle East with North Africa as MENA area. South Asia could be a part of Asia too, right? In fact, Asia is somewhere people can all connect with each other from East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia to the Middle East. We're a continent. We share a diversity of culture, of civilization, of history. But at the same time, we share exactly the same aspiration of becoming more prosperous and giving people a better life.

So again, I think this particular forum is very fitting to get together, to share our best practice and to find a common ground to move forward with our future goals of development. Thank you very much.

Club Briefing: From December 6 to 8, 2025, the Doha Forum 2025 was held in Doha, Qatar. During the forum, Beijing Club for International Dialogue hosted a round-table titled "Asia's Role in a Changing World: Civilizational Wisdom and Contemporary Challenges," exploring how Asia can bridge the Global South and North and promote fairer global governance. Speaking at the session, Zhao Hai, Director of the Department of International Politic , National Institute for Global Strategy at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a senior fellow with Beijing Club for International Dialogue, called for a renewed look at "Asian values" in a multipolar era. He advocated replacing Western-style democracy with good governance, countering extreme individualism through family bonds, and resisting subversion under the banner of human rights by promoting both sovereign equality and pluralistic approaches to human rights. He also called on Asia, from East Asia to the Middle East, to transcend regional boundaries and jointly create and share development experiences as well as a non-Western–centered framework for governance.