In this masterful overview of global power balance, Kishore Mahbubani argues that China has already begun to win in what he calls the defining geopolitical contest of our age. We need to start thinking about how to deal with a more assertive China rather than make futile efforts to contain it. A brilliant essayist and a renowned public intellectual, Mr. Mahbubani is uniquely qualified for his task. He takes us on a sweeping tour through history and across continents to show us how we can ensure peace and prosperity for all – even as the balance of power shifts.
Has China Won is the first book of its kind about the geopolitical contest between China and the US. It looks at how two powerful nations with different cultures view each other and interact and how they are likely to shape each other’s destiny. Written by one of Asia’s leading commentators, Kishore Mahbubani–former Singaporean diplomat and Chancellor of NUS–is an impassioned plea to move away from this pre-20th century mindset which he believes no longer serves us in a new global world where countries are increasingly being judged by their performance rather than their history or size.
China and America are both rising powerhouses. They speak different languages, have no natural affinity, and have centuries of bad history between them. But there is one thing that unites them: their deep economic interdependence. If these two giants fail to find a way to work together, it will be disastrous for humanity.
About Has China Won Book
The defining geopolitical contest of the twenty-first century is between China and the US. But is it avoidable? And if it happens, is the outcome already inevitable?
China and America are world powers without serious rivals. They eye each other warily across the Pacific; they communicate poorly; there seems to be little natural empathy. A massive geopolitical contest has begun.
America prizes freedom; China values freedom from chaos. America values strategic decisiveness; China values patience. America is becoming a society of lasting inequality; China is a meritocracy. America has abandoned multilateralism; China welcomes it.
Kishore Mahbubani, a diplomat and scholar with unrivaled access to policymakers in Beijing and Washington, has written the definitive guide to the deep fault lines in the relationship, a clear-eyed assessment of the risk of any confrontation, and a bracingly honest appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses, and superpower eccentricities, of the US and China.