China, Hongkong, Taiwan - The Greater China Desk

China, Hongkong, Taiwan - The Greater China Desk

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  • Cornelius Mueller
    Cornelius Mueller    Premium Member   Group moderator
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    Recommended reading: The New Asian Hemisphere - The irresistible shift of global power to the East, by Kishore Mahbubani
    This book, as hardcover already published in 2008, now available in its paperback edition, is controversial. In the West it has received overwhelming negative reviews, while in Asia reactions have been remarkably positive. No wonder, one might say, since the author makes a very bold statement in the introduction by describing the primary purpose of his book as "To explain the world as it is seen through non-western eyes, so that the 900 million who live in the West appreciate how the remaining 5.6 billion people view the world". No minor task, one might say.

    The author mainly looks at both India and China when discussing the subject, as both are key-players not only in the region, but also globally. Asia's march to modernity, which will include in the future, as poverty increasingly will be abolished in neighbouring countries as well, Pakistan, Iran et al, offers opportunities for the West, where, for the time being, "many Western eyes (when) peering into the twenty-first century, they see only dark images, not a new dawn in the history of human civilization". The author points out that, only half a century ago, there appeared only two modern societies in Asia, at its eastern and western extremities: Israel and Japan. Asia's undeniable progress since then, in economical and political terms, comes because its growing middle-classes want to achieve what the West has achieved, it doens't want to dominate and fight the western model, but replicate it. "The universalization of the Western dream should therefore represent a moment of triumph for the West" writes the author. The West, while being at the center of the problems the world is facing today, is also part of the solution.

    After living and working in Asia for the better part of my life, I can't but see Mahbubani's book as being utmost optimistic. I find this kind of optimism daily, in life and work. I certainly don't share all conclusions the author makes, but I still recommend this book to everyone to read. Many western minds are trapped in the past, after reading the the book, they might change their minds and see opportunities where they only can see dangers now.

    To quote John Maynard Keynes: "The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds".


    The book:

    The New Asian Hemisphere - The irresistible shift of global power to the East

    Author: Kishore Mahbubani

    Published in the United States by Public Affairs

    ISBN 978-1-58648-671-6

    ---------------------

    Kishore Mahbubani (born October 24, 1948, Singapore) is a notable academic and is currently Professor in the Practice of Public Policy and the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. From 1971 to 2004 he served in the Singaporean Foreign Services, ending up as Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In that role he served as president of the United Nations Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002.

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishore_Mahbubani


    Cornelius Mueller



    http://www.sinolandquality.com
    • 08 Jan 2011, 08:36 am