Why can't Asian countries share?

Regarding the Preah Vihear temple issue: It sits on a border. Both countries can benefit from tourists going there to visit. Worldwide, there are nearly twenty World Heritage Sites that are happily shared by bordering countries. How many of those are in Asia? None. As for the tiny islands in the South China Sea: again, a solution could be reached by, for example, declaring all the islands as international ocean sanctuaries.  

What’s that you say? There is no such official designation? Well hey, what a golden opportunity for Asian leaders to offer the world something unique and positive, for a change. Antarctica is shared by all, owned by no nation, and is off-limits for commercial exploitation (an initiative put forth by Western nations, by the way). Ah yes, that’s the clincher: Asians can’t fathom any natural resource being off limits to commercial exploitation. Okay, forget about it; just go back to your regular internecine bickering. It might escalate to warfare, but hey, military weapons dealers won’t mind. 

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai