The BEST way to live with China is to strengthen multilateralism

How to understand a modern China and its evolution from the 5,000-year-old ancient Chinese civilization? How to decode China from an academic point of view? And how is an opening China to contribute to the human civilization? ShanghaiEye talks to global experts at the World Conference on China Studies Shanghai Forum.

Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's former UN ambassador and the head of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, shares his insights on the best way to live with China as China's renaissance of "brining back its culture, strengthening its society and developing itself is obviously a source of inspiration for many other countries."

Mr. Mahbubani is here in Shanghai to attend the World Conference on China Studies Shanghai Forum and to promote his book "Has China Won?", which is now published in Chinese.

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Well, I think, I’m not giving away a big secret, if I tell you that the China’s relations with the United States of America are in a very challenging phase. Because many people in the United States want to keep United States as the number one power in the world, and they believe that the way they can keep United States number one power in the world is to stop China. And, so as a result of that, the US-China contest will accelerate over the next ten years, and we should be ready for some rocky times. But at the same time, it’s clear that most countries in the world, don’t want to take sides in this US-China contest. For example, ASEAN, the 10 ASEAN countries in my region, in Southeast Asia, have made it very clear they want to be good friends with China, and they want to be good friends with the United States, and they don’t want to take sides in this contest. So, I hope, as more and more countries declare that they don’t want to take sides in this contest, then hopefully the United States will decide it’s better to learn to live with China, rather than to try and suppress China’s growth. And the best way to live with China is to strengthen multilateral institutions, multilateral rules, multi-lateral norms and so on.

The past 200 years of Western domination of world history have been an aberration. All aberrations come to a natural end. So, it’s perfectly natural to see the return of China, India, and the other Asian societies. And the fact that China is able to have a kind of a renaissance, bringing back its old culture, to strengthen its society, to develop itself. It’s obviously a source of inspiration for many other societies who say ‘hey, if China can do it, I can do it too’. So in that sense, it’s important for China to continue succeeding, because by your success, you’re not just developing your own people, you are inspiring other people around the world.

Therefore, in the field of science and technology, I sadly, again, I think it’s a mistake for the United States to cut down on science and technology cooperation with China. As you know, the US Congress is not sure whether or not to renew the Science and Technology Agreement, which has been around since 1980 with China. That will be a mistake for the United States not to extend that Science and Technology Agreement with China.

China has shown that it can keep progressing, even though efforts are being made to stop China. So, I think it may slow down China’s growth a little bit in some areas, but it will not change the fundamental trajectory, because all the countries that have made efforts to stop China’s growth in science and technology have failed.

I’m very happy to be back in Shanghai, because in the year 2018, when I took a sabbatical to write my book “Has China Won”, I spent two months in Fudan University, so I got to know this beautiful city very well. And this is my 1st time to come back since Covid, and I’m very happy to be back.

2023中國(guó)學(xué)貢獻(xiàn)獎(jiǎng)得主馬凱碩：

與中國(guó)的最佳相處之道是加強(qiáng)多邊機(jī)制

馬凱碩 新加坡國(guó)立大學(xué)亞洲研究院卓越院士、前新加坡駐聯(lián)合國(guó)大使、2023中國(guó)學(xué)貢獻(xiàn)獎(jiǎng)獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸骸芭c中國(guó)相處的最佳相處之道是加強(qiáng)多邊合作機(jī)構(gòu)、多邊機(jī)制、多邊規(guī)范等等?！?/span>

“我想我不是在泄露秘密，中美關(guān)系正處于一個(gè)非常具有挑戰(zhàn)性的階段，因?yàn)樵S多美國(guó)人希望美國(guó)能保持世界頭號(hào)大國(guó)的地位。他們相信，保持世界第一的方法就是遏制中國(guó)。因此，美中競(jìng)爭(zhēng)將在未來(lái)十年加速。我們?cè)摓槠溟g的起伏做好準(zhǔn)備?！?/strong>

“但與此同時(shí)，很明顯，世界上大多數(shù)國(guó)家不想在這場(chǎng)美中競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中站隊(duì)任何一方。比如，東盟、東盟十國(guó)，我所在的東南亞地區(qū)，已經(jīng)非常明確地表示，他們既希望與中國(guó)成為好朋友，又希望與美國(guó)成為好朋友。他們不想站隊(duì)。我希望，隨著越來(lái)越多的國(guó)家聲明不愿在美中競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中站隊(duì)，美國(guó)能認(rèn)識(shí)到，它更好的做法是去學(xué)習(xí)與中國(guó)相處，而不是試圖遏制中國(guó)的發(fā)展?！?/strong>

“過(guò)去200年，西方國(guó)家對(duì)世界的主導(dǎo)，并不是一種常態(tài)。所有非常態(tài)的東西總有結(jié)束的時(shí)候。因此，看到中國(guó)、印度和其它亞洲社會(huì)的強(qiáng)勢(shì)回歸，這都是很自然的。事實(shí)上，中國(guó)也有能力去實(shí)現(xiàn)一種復(fù)興，復(fù)興其文化，強(qiáng)健其社會(huì)，并發(fā)展自己。顯然，這將啟發(fā)其它很多國(guó)家。那些國(guó)家將認(rèn)為，既然中國(guó)可以做到，那么我也可以。所以，從這個(gè)意義上說(shuō)，中國(guó)繼續(xù)取得成功是很重要的。因?yàn)橹袊?guó)的成功，不僅令本國(guó)人民得到發(fā)展，還激勵(lì)啟發(fā)了世界各國(guó)人民?！?/strong>

“在科技領(lǐng)域，我再次很遺憾地認(rèn)為，美國(guó)減少與中國(guó)的科技合作是一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤。如你所知，美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)可能不會(huì)續(xù)簽1980年前后與中國(guó)簽訂的《中美科技合作協(xié)定》。美國(guó)不延長(zhǎng)這一科技協(xié)議將是一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤?！?/strong>

“中國(guó)已經(jīng)顯示了其（在科技領(lǐng)域）繼續(xù)進(jìn)步的能力，即便一些人在遏制中國(guó)方面下了功夫。我認(rèn)為，這可能會(huì)使中國(guó)在某些領(lǐng)域的成長(zhǎng)速度有所放緩。但不會(huì)改變基本的發(fā)展軌跡，因?yàn)樗心切┰噲D遏制中國(guó)科技發(fā)展的國(guó)家都失敗了。”

“我很高興再次來(lái)到上海，2018年，我抽了一段時(shí)間來(lái)寫新書(shū)《中國(guó)的選擇》。當(dāng)時(shí)在復(fù)旦大學(xué)待了兩個(gè)月，對(duì)這座美麗的城市了解頗深。這是我自新冠疫情以來(lái)第一次回到上海，我很高興能夠回來(lái)?！?/strong>