Asia's Ukraine Dilemma ?

As our world becomes increasingly interconnected,it is becoming much harder for countries to stay neutral.Either they will pick a side or they will be pulled from the sidelines.Countries will have to weigh their national interests with their security intersests.

A clear example of this would be the Ukrainian Invasion while it is becoming more and more evident that there are human right violations and the toll the invasion is having on the civilians becomes more evident , India has still refused to co-sponsor resolutions in the UNSC out of fear of Russia's retaliation.Most SEA countries did not sponsor a UNGA resolution even though its effect would have been minimal even if it had been passed. It was a matter of security to them.They did not want to antagonise a superpower.Thus, when Singapore stepped up to condemn Russia, it was met with such joy from Ukraine .In truth, this was done in line with singaporean's security interests as well.They feared the implications of the country and wanted to highlight their aggressive stance to deter any threat.

Foreign policy is rarely grounded on righteous grounds or moral slants but rather follows economic and security interests.Values are usually just aggravating factors or merely used as a cover for such actions where possible.This is particularly evident from WW2 where despite Roosevelt's intenese desire to get America invovled,the people were still firmly isolationist.It was only after the pearl harbor bombings that approval nearly doubled from 35% to 68%.Underscoring this idea is the Taiwan and HongKong conflict.China has long since been infringing on the sovereignty of Taiwan through grey-zone attacks as well as by intimidating other countires into never giving them their recognition.Denying a country their freedom and continously threatening their way of life is surely no one's idea of the right thing to do. But who will stand up?Risk the might of a growing Superpower? Any qualms would have squashed when they see the frighteningly strong economic power.that could hurt their countries national and economic security with a snap of their fingers.South Korea's largest

trading partner is China.It is definitely not wrong for countries to worry about adverse effects that their policy could have and hesitate to do good deeds.They are not there to save the world only to act in the best interests of their citizens.Even now lobbying for direct western involvement is foolish .The reason for involvement is to act as a deterrence to china that might want to gain control of Taiwan.Taiwan which is the home of semi-conductors that are essential for electronics engineering.Hence, in truth there is no Asian Dilemma.Each country is merely acting in their best interests and trying to preserve their way of life.

tl;dr Anyone who preaches righteousness in this day and age as a primary tool for policy making is merely being naive.