South Asia and Beyond

U.S. Has Blundered Into Geopolitical Contest With China: Kishore Mahbubani

NEW DELHI: Without a comprehensive long-term strategy, it’s unwise for the United States to have launched a major geopolitical contest against China, says noted academic and former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani. Speaking to StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale, Mahbubani, who is Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, The National University of Singapore, says China, which is experiencing the most resurgent phase in its history, is a far more formidable competitor that the U.S. has ever had. Invoking George Keenan, former American diplomat and key Cold War strategist, Mahbubani says the U.S. isn’t following any of Keenan’s key pieces of advice, such as ‘cultivate friends and allies’ and ‘be humble’. Mahbubani, who is of Indian origin, feels the country can do remarkably well in the long run if it opens up its economy the way China did. Indians are among the post competitive peoples in the world; give them any environment and they will do well, he says.

Nitin A Gokhale WhatsApp Channel

Nitin A. Gokhale

Left to himself, Nitin A. Gokhale would rather watch films and sports matches but his day job as a media entrepreneur, communications specialist, analyst and author, leaves him little time to indulge in his primary interests. Gokhale in fact started his career in journalism in 1983 as a sports reporter. Since then he has, in the past 41 years, traversed the entire spectrum across print, broadcast and digital space. One of South Asia's leading strategic analysts, Gokhale has moved on from conventional media to become an independent media entrepreneur running three niche digital platforms—BharatShakti, StratNewsGlobal and Interstellar—besides undertaking consultancy and training workshops in communications for military institutions, corporates and individuals. Now better known for his conflict coverage and strategic analyses, Gokhale has lived and reported from India’s North-east for 23 years between 1983 and 2006, been on the ground at Kargil in the summer of 1999 and also brought us live coverage from Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009.    An alumni of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii, Gokhale now writes, lectures and analyses security and strategic matters in Indo-Pacific and travels regularly to US, Europe, Australia, South and South-East Asia to take part in various seminars and conferences. Gokhale is also a popular visiting faculty at India’s Defence Services Staff College, the three war colleges, India's National Defence College, College of Defence Management and the IB’s intelligence school.

Related