By the logic（逻辑）of geography, the continent of Australia should have been populated with Asians． Instead, by an accident of history, Australia has been mainly populated with Westerners．
Sadly, no major Australian newspaper or expert commented． This made me aware that Australians are reluctant to face Australia's painful new geopolitical realities．
Against this background, the release of the Asian Century White Paper is timely． It should provide a sharp wake-up call to the Australian population that Australia's destiny（命运）is now firmly tied to Asia． Julia Gillard is right in saying, "The transformation of the Asian region into the economic powerhouse ofthe world is not only unstoppable, it is gathering pace．"
One truly impressive part of the paper is the data it provides on Asia's rise． It notes, for example, that "in the past 20 years, China and India have almost tripled（增三倍）their share of the global ecoromy and increased their economic size almost six times over． By 2025, the region as a whole will account for almost half the world's output．"
In this Asian century, as Western power gets weak steadily, Australia will be left "beached" alone as the only Western country （together with New Zealand） in Asia． Twenty-two million Australians will have to learn to deal with 3．5 billion Asians with great care and sensitivity．
Ignorance（无知）about Asia could prove to be fatal（致命的）for Australia's long-term future． This is why the report is right in focusing on Australian misunderstanding of Asia．
Sadly, this kind of terrible ignorance may be a result of Australian education． The report says, “Only a small proportion of Year 12 students study anything about Asia in the subjects of history, literature, geography, economics, politics and the arts under existing state-based curriculums．" Worse, only 5 per cent of each Australian groups study any kind of Asian language．
Learning Asian languages would open windows to Asian cultural and political sensitivities． The time for Australians to think deeply about their Asian destiny has arrived． The sooner Australia adjusts to its new Asian destiny, the less painful the adjustment will prove to be .
| Title: It's （71） to accept our place in Asian region | |
| （72） | （73） speaking, Australia is close to Asia, yet few Australians are willing to face Australia's new geopolitical （74） ． |
| Release of the white paper | Aim: To tell Australians that their （75） definitely has much to do with Asia． Cause: Asia has （76） the economic powerhouse of the world． （77） : China and India have tripled their share of the global economy and the region will account for half the world's output by 2025． |
| Writer's opinions | Australians will be lonely if they don't learn to deal with 3．5 billion Asians． Australian （78） , in part, is responsible for their ignorance about Asia． It's right for the paper to （79） on Australian misunderstanding of Asia． It's high time that Asia languages were （80） to Australian children． |