Kishore Mahbubani

Biden should summon the courage to reverse course on China

If Kennan were alive today, he would be shocked to see the US spending $5tn on unnecessary wars, while the bottom 50 percent of Americans have seen their incomes stagnate for decades. There is a “sea of despair” among white working classes.

China is doing the opposite of the former Soviet Union. China believes the Soviet leaders failed because they lost touch with their own people, ignoring their welfare while engaged in foreign wars. China hasn’t fought a major war in 40 years. Unlike the Soviet Union, it controls military expenditures.

No country has improved its people’s wellbeing as much as China. In terms of human development, the past 40 years have been the best four decades in 4,000 years of Chinese history.

This is an excerpt from an article published by Kishore Mahbubani.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.

Kishore Mahbubani

Kishore Mahbubani is a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, whose books include The Asian 21st Century and Has China Won?. And the author of ‘Has the West Lost It?’

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