You can't have harmony without trust

THE Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, held annually on the South Korean island of Jeju, dedicates itself to ideas such as diversity and sustainability. This year, the forum has the theme of building a "New Asia of Trust and Harmony".

This year's forum was also attended by a slew of former leaders, including Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Gerhard Schroder of Germany, Joe Clark of Canada, John Howard of Australia and Yasuo Fukuda of Japan. They were there to share their experiences and pool their wisdom for the benefit of the 4,000 other participants. No longer in office, they are free to speak without restraint.

What is striking is that there was no retired leader from China to share his wisdom. In fact, it is unthinkable for someone like former premier Wen Jiabao, or even his predecessor, Zhu Rongji, retired now for more than a dozen years, to take part like other former leaders and speak frankly about his own country and its relations with others, and what he did during his years in office.