The global community today is as much a collection of nation-states as it is of an assemblage of civilizations. And this is most evident in Asia, the home of some of the world’s earliest and longest surviving civilizations. Over the millennial, this has transformed continental and maritime Asia into a tapestry of diverse languages, cultural heritages, and belief systems. And at the onset of the 21st Century, these civilizations, straddling across multiple national boundaries, present possibilities as well as challenges, as Asia, led by China, seeks to actualize a community of shared future for humankind.