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MUMBAI:
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch has said that the ongoing
metamorphosis of China and India from historic backwaters
into economic powers will help reshape the world in the next
few decades.
The
media baron made a vigorous case for free markets despite
troubled economic times and what he called "naked, heartless
aggression" in the world. The rise of their economies
is creating a new middle class that would be three billion
strong within 30 years and that is setting a new benchmark
for global competitiveness.
Murdoch
said that China and India are great countries whose people
are emerging from histories of being "incarcerated by
communism or caste."
"These
are people who have known deprivation. These are people who
are intent on developing their skills, improving their lives
and showing the world what they can do,” he said.
He
chided fellow Australians for laziness, saying they should
beware that the "bludger" did not become the national
icon.
"At
a time when the world's most competitive nations are moving
their people off government subsidy, Australians seem to be
headed in the wrong direction," Murdoch said.
He
also warned that a win by Democratic hopeful Barack Obama
in the US election could worsen the world financial crisis.
In
another speech, Murdoch said that he would give his opinions
on the future of newspapers, which are suffering a severe
downturn, especially in the United States, as advertising
revenue is lost to the internet. He made a strong pitch for
freer trade between countries, taking agriculture as an example
and saying that reducing artificial barriers is a moral and
strategic issue.
"So
we must continue to leverage our connections and continue
to push when others have left the conference table,"
he said. Touching on security, he chided Europe for appearing
to have "lost the will to confront aggression" and
said North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) should be reformed
into a group based on common values, not geography, and include
countries like Australia as members.
He
urged Australia to embrace internationalism and touched on
a range of global issues, from international security to the
commercial opportunities offered by the world's need for cleaner
energy.
Murdoch's
comments were in the first of six radio lectures that will
be aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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