https://www.scmp.com/rss/290848/feed Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, is the author of "Has China Won?" en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Kishore Mahbubani Kishore Mahbubani Western social science has made three metaphysical mistakes. The first was to assume that its laws and lessons were, like the physical sciences, universally applicable to all societies. Harvard Professor Theodore Levitt captured the prevailing zeitgeist well when he wrote in 1983: “The world’s needs and desires have been irrevocably homogenised.” That may have been true 40 years ago. It is no longer. One indirect consequence of this assumption – that the whole world was converging towards a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3353739/west-was-never-whole-world-its-time-move?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3353739/west-was-never-whole-world-its-time-move?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 May 2026 02:00:19 +0000 Kishore Mahbubani Kishore Mahbubani US President Donald Trump’s tariffs – especially the ultra-high “reciprocal tariffs” that he says will be reintroduced on July 8 for any country that has not struck a trade deal with his administration – have sent countries around the world scrambling to respond, adapt and limit the fallout. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ 10 members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have been among the most proactive. Their... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3313322/how-trumps-tariffs-could-benefit-asean-long-run?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3313322/how-trumps-tariffs-could-benefit-asean-long-run?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Jun 2025 10:30:08 +0000 Why hasn’t 85 per cent of the world imposed sanctions on Russia after its illegal invasion of Ukraine? Clearly most countries that make up this 85 per cent do not approve of the invasion. A majority also voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution deploring it. Still, virtually no member of the Global South has imposed sanctions on Russia. Why? The honest answer is that in their heart of hearts, many leaders of these countries do not buy the “black and white” story that the West is... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3210636/time-west-rethink-goal-total-defeat-russia-ukraine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3210636/time-west-rethink-goal-total-defeat-russia-ukraine?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Feb 2023 01:00:23 +0000 I think I may have made President Emmanuel Macron blush a little. This happened at the Paris Peace Forum on November 11. Macron had invited me to join a panel discussion with him, the presidents of Argentina and Guinea-Bissau, the prime minister of Albania, and other “intellectuals” (in the words of Macron). The subject was “universalism in the face of war”. By universalism, the organisers were referring to the universal principles embedded in our global multilateral system. I may have made... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3200058/french-president-emmanuel-macrons-embrace-diverse-views-offers-hope-true-multilateralism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3200058/french-president-emmanuel-macrons-embrace-diverse-views-offers-hope-true-multilateralism?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Nov 2022 03:10:20 +0000 Our world is beginning to drown in pessimism. Dark clouds, both geopolitical and geoeconomic, bear down upon us – some unleashing great pain and suffering on the people below. Energy prices are spiking. Inflation is accelerating. Governments, as in Sri Lanka, are falling. The burning question our world now faces is a simple one: can we turn things around? The short answer is yes, we can. In our modern world, sound public policies based on logical reasoning and good scientific evidence could... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3176747/if-china-abandons-zero-covid-it-could-prove-its-more-rational-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3176747/if-china-abandons-zero-covid-it-could-prove-its-more-rational-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 May 2022 23:00:26 +0000 The country with the biggest gap between its economic potential and its economic performance today is India. India’s Gross National Product (GNP) today is US$2.6 trillion. It should be at least 10 or 20 times larger. If we look at what ethnic Indians have achieved in the most competitive human laboratory in the world – the United States of America – and elsewhere, it is clear that Indians are naturally competitive economic animals and thrive in economic competition. In this regard, they are very... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3145475/why-india-can-learn-asean-become-stronger-economy-china-or-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3145475/why-india-can-learn-asean-become-stronger-economy-china-or-us?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Aug 2021 09:00:14 +0000 The demonisation of China has gained momentum in the American body politic. Not a day goes by without some major figure warning about the China threat. In April, a 281-page bill entitled “Strategic Competition Act of 2021” was tabled in the US Congress. All this cacophony would give the casual observer the impression that the United States is not underestimating the China threat – but, actually, it is. The real danger of this demonisation is that it leads even thoughtful Americans to believe... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3140522/why-us-china-contest-will-be-fought-heartlands-america?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3140522/why-us-china-contest-will-be-fought-heartlands-america?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jul 2021 14:30:12 +0000 The sociologist Max Weber once famously said, “it is not true that good can follow only from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true. Anyone who fails to see this is, indeed, a political infant”. Myanmar proves the sagacity of his statement. The “evil” of the coup was facilitated by the “good deeds” of Western leaders, whose isolation and rejection of Aung San Suu Kyi gave the generals courage to launch a coup against her. Yet, good may also come out of the evil of the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3121203/myanmar-coup-could-jump-start-us-china-cooperation-through-quiet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3121203/myanmar-coup-could-jump-start-us-china-cooperation-through-quiet?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Feb 2021 23:00:28 +0000 This article was first published in Foreign Policy. Australia, India, Japan, and the United States have perfectly legitimate concerns about China. It will be uncomfortable living with a more powerful China, and it’s equally legitimate for them to hedge by cooperating in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, informally known as the Quad. Unfortunately, the Quad will not alter the course of Asian history for two simple reasons: first, the four countries have different geopolitical interests and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3120234/why-quad-doesnt-spell-future-asias-relationship-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3120234/why-quad-doesnt-spell-future-asias-relationship-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Feb 2021 23:00:17 +0000 India is entering a geopolitical sweet spot. What does this mean? In a world crying out for a strong, independent voice to provide moral guidance to a troubled planet, the only realistic candidate is India. None of the three other obvious candidates – the United States, the European Union and China – can step up to the plate now. The US is a deeply troubled country, even after the election of Joe Biden. It has travelled the full moral arc from a John F. Kennedy, who famously said, “Let every... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3110473/why-india-way-may-be-worlds-best-bet-moral-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3110473/why-india-way-may-be-worlds-best-bet-moral-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Nov 2020 08:00:22 +0000 After the global elation following Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election, the world seems to be in a disjointed place. On the one hand, the air is pregnant with expectations that a new dawn is approaching. America will once again be a calm, stable and rational actor in international affairs. On the other hand, there is also a growing realisation that Biden’s hands are tied. Donald Trump is gone. But as Martin Wolf writes, “the chances of a comeback for Trumpism, even Mr Trump... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3109807/bidens-america-needs-learn-world-not-vice-versa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3109807/bidens-america-needs-learn-world-not-vice-versa?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Nov 2020 21:00:22 +0000 Covid-19 has shaken the human species to the core. It has metaphorically, if not literally, shut down our world. If humans fail to grasp the deeper metaphysical messages this pandemic is sending, we cannot claim to be the most intelligent species on the planet. The metaphysical messages are clear but contradictory: to survive in the short term, we need national solidarity. To survive in the long term, we need global solidarity. The Italians understood the first message well. When Italy became... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3082210/coronavirus-telling-us-be-citizen-our-country-and-our-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3082210/coronavirus-telling-us-be-citizen-our-country-and-our-world?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Apr 2020 22:30:12 +0000 Sometimes the most obvious lesson from a global crisis is the hardest one to see. The most obvious lesson from the rapid global spread of the novel coronavirus is that Planet Earth has become – like the ill-fated Diamond Princess, moored off Japan, and the Grand Princess, moored off California – a virus-infected cruise ship. In theory, the 7.5 billion inhabitants of planet earth live in 193 separate countries. In practice, these separate countries have functionally become cabins on the same... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3075083/why-china-and-us-must-set-aside-their-differences-tackle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3075083/why-china-and-us-must-set-aside-their-differences-tackle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:00:30 +0000 The world turned a corner in 2019. The problem is that the world order didn’t turn with it. This disconnect could have disastrous consequences. The biggest global change has been the start of the “Asian century”. Today, Asia is home to three of the world’s top four economic powers (in purchasing power parity terms): China, India and Japan. The region’s combined gross domestic product exceeds that of the United States and of the European Union. The US is no longer even the most globalised power;... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3043552/when-will-western-led-global-order-catch-world-and-include-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3043552/when-will-western-led-global-order-catch-world-and-include-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Dec 2019 02:30:12 +0000 At the annual summer academy for University of Turin students held on the campus of Peking University, about 50 Italian business students spend their days learning Mandarin, studying macroeconomics and interning with Chinese companies. They call themselves the “Marco Polos of the 21st century”, a giggling nod to the famed 13th-century Venetian explorer. When asked what their career ambitions are, more than a few share the same goal: to be a country manager for China’s ICBC Bank back home in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3004114/italy-joining-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3004114/italy-joining-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Apr 2019 14:00:07 +0000 The big question in Asian countries right now is what lesson to take from Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, and from the UK’s Brexit referendum, in which British voters opted to leave the European Union. Unfortunately, the focus is not where it should be: geopolitical change. Instead, for the most part, economic narratives have prevailed: globalisation, while improving overall well-being, also dislocates workers and industries, and generates greater income disparity,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053858/how-fear-drove-voters-towards-trump-and-away-eu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053858/how-fear-drove-voters-towards-trump-and-away-eu?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Dec 2016 06:04:09 +0000 More than one-third of the world's population lives in just three countries: China, India and Indonesia. With all three undergoing significant political transitions, this is a decisive moment in shaping the global economy's future. If Narendra Modi and Joko Widodo win the upcoming elections in India and Indonesia, respectively, they will join Chinese President Xi Jinping in spurring regional economic growth - likely causing Asia's rise to global economic pre-eminence to occur faster than the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1496802/xi-indias-modi-and-indonesias-widodo-lead-pragmatists-rise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1496802/xi-indias-modi-and-indonesias-widodo-lead-pragmatists-rise?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:15:30 +0000 The time has come to think the unthinkable: the era of American dominance in international affairs may well be coming to an end. As that moment approaches, the main question will be how well the US is prepared for it. Asia's rise over the past few decades is more than a story of rapid economic growth. It is the story of a region undergoing a renaissance in which people's minds are reopened and their outlook refreshed. Asia's movement towards resuming its former central role in the global economy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1248316/americans-ill-served-blinkered-view-us-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1248316/americans-ill-served-blinkered-view-us-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Long before anyone else, former US president Bill Clinton saw that America would have to prepare for the time when it would no longer be the No 1 power in the world. In his 2003 Yale University address on "Global Challenges", he said: "If you believe that maintaining power and control and absolute freedom of movement and sovereignty is important to your country's future, there's nothing inconsistent in [the US continuing to behaving unilaterally]. "[The US is] the biggest, most powerful country... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1149513/world-without-america-no-1?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1149513/world-without-america-no-1?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 To the extent that culture matters in politics, the recent spate of leadership changes in northeast Asia suggests that Asian societies are more tolerant - if not supportive - of dynastic succession. South Korea's recently elected president, Park Geun-hye, is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country from 1961 to 1979. China's incoming president, Xi Jinping , is the son of Xi Zhongxun , a former vice-premier. Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is the grandson and grandnephew of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1122209/dynastic-succession-asian-politics-no-guarantee-success?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1122209/dynastic-succession-asian-politics-no-guarantee-success?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000