Forum: World needs to cooperate - not compete - for all to thrive

Kishore Mahbubani, the former dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, examines the relationship between the United States and China in his new book, Has China Won?.
Kishore Mahbubani, the former dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, examines the relationship between the United States and China in his new book, Has China Won?. PHOTO: COURTESY OF KISHORE MAHBUBANI

Straits Times associate editor Vikram Khanna provides an insightful review of Professor Kishore Mahbubani's latest book, Has China Won? (Dissecting the US-China geopolitical contest, May 26).

He says the author "comes around to the view that 'Has China won?' is the wrong question".

As long as it is a contest for supremacy in whatever realm - economic, military or political ideology - conflicts will persist.

With competition as the model for international relations, analyses and suggested scenarios will merely be exercises in a vicious circle of self-fulfilling prophecies, leading the world towards mutual destruction.

The critical lesson that Covid-19 offers to every community is still to be learnt: Survival of the human species cannot be isolated from survival of all creatures on the planet, as well as the planet itself.

Until humans grasp this and understand that survival is not determined by the fittest but by symbiosis, we will all be headed for extinction.

The fervour that fans the pride of race or place must be dumped in favour of universal kinship and family relations.

The wisdom that must be rediscovered is that a family thrives when there is harmony in the home. Home is the earth we inhabit. We can inherit the planet only by being kind towards one another.

Can we not compete but cooperate with one another so that everyone can thrive?

As the leaders of Singapore's pioneer generation urged, we have to work together to make the cake bigger so that everyone can have a bigger slice. This is applicable in international relations as well.

Thomas Lee Hock Seng (Dr)

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 29, 2020, with the headline Forum: World needs to cooperate - not compete - for all to thrive. Subscribe