co—ordinate, present a united front with europe and the united states, we would hope would also create a precedent for the way in which the us and europe may respond in the event of an outbreak of war in asia relating to china. in asia more widely, beyond the us alliance circle, it has been a very muted response at the un general assembly, the un security council, the non—western countries that have been most prolific, most assertive in their defence of the un charter, the basic norms and rules enshrining the sanctity of territorial integrity and sovereignty, have not been asian, they have been countries like kenya and mexico, who half—back and really have criticised this neoimperialism, as a german, from russia and how back to their own colonial struggles from which they are still trying to emerge. so asia is