Insights into global power balances

Deng said in a speech in 1984: "A closed-door policy prevents any country from developing. We suffered from isolation, and so did our forefathers.... As a consequence, the country declined into poverty and ignorance."

Since Mahbubani says he doesn't know what it was that made the West advance, it is possible to question his conclusion that the West must decline.

No one doubts that Asia will rise, but that does not necessarily imply a Western decline, other than in a relative sense.

It may be true that certain things will change, such as the current cozy arrangement whereby the World Bank is always headed by an American and the International Monetary Fund by a European, with Asians excluded.

The rise of Asia means change, but it doesn't necessarily mean that all global power will pass from West to East.

A sharing of power -- and responsibilities -- is a more likely, and more acceptable, outcome.

Whether one agrees with Mahbubani or not, his book is well worth reading. It is crammed with interesting information and provides an Asian perspective that is frequently missing in Western discourses on issues of global importance. And in this day and age, no such discussion is worth anything.

In 2006, China produced a 12-part documentary series on "The Rise of the Great Powers," clearly an attempt on its part to understand the West.

It is now incumbent on the West to try to understand Asia and this book will go far to meet that need.

Frank.ching@gmail.com

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