Don’t be distracted by China – Asia, on the whole, is the real powerhouse, says strategist
- The West needs to view Asia as the economic powerhouse – not just China, writes strategist Parag Khanna in his new book
- The phrase ‘China-led Asia’ is no more acceptable to most Asians than the notion of a ‘US-led West’ is to Europeans
Singapore-based author, strategist and former adviser to Barack Obama, Parag Khanna, releases his latest book, The Future is Asian: Global Order in the Twenty-first Century, next month. In it, he argues that Asia is returning to the stable multipolar order that existed long before European colonialism and American dominance, with India and Southeast Asia coming into their own as economic and strategic hubs.
In this edited excerpt, Khanna explains why and how this will happen.
In May 2017, 68 countries representing two-thirds of the world’s population and half its GDP gathered in Beijing for the first Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Summit. This gathering of Asian, European, and African leaders symbolised the launch of the largest coordinated infrastructure investment plan in human history.
Collectively, the assembled governments pledged to spend trillions of dollars in the coming decade to connect the world’s largest population centres in a constellation of commerce and cultural exchange – a New Silk Road era.
The BRI is the most significant diplomatic project of the 21st century, the equivalent of the mid-20th-century founding of the United Nations and World Bank plus the Marshall Plan all rolled into one.
The crucial difference: BRI was conceived in Asia and launched in Asia and will be led by Asians. This is the story of one entire side of the planet – the Asian side – and its impact on the 21st-century world.
