Contradictions, Convictions and Conundrums in the Asian Century

Speaking at Caixin’s Asia New Vision Forum, Singapore’s former U.N. Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani explains just how serious the fraught U.S.-China relationship is for the rest of Asia, and the world

The U.S.-China rivalry is one of three structural conflicts upsetting the global order, so the world should prepare for severe “global turbulence” over the next decade, Singapore’s former ambassador to the U.N., Kishore Mahbubani, said on June 13 at Caixin’s Asia New Vision Forum. The forum’s theme was the Asian Century.

Mahbubani said the other structural conflicts were those between China and India and the “collective West” and the “collective rest.” Accordingly, he identified three hopes for the future. The first is for the 6 billion people outside the West to urge China and the U.S. to ease tensions. The second is for multilateral institutions to be strengthened to serve as a bridge for communication between the West and the rest. The third is for China and India to continue to live in peace and learn to talk to each other again.