World needs ‘bridge builders’ to make the transition to new multipolar order: President Tharman

STOCKHOLM – The world needs countries that are bridge builders if it is to reach a stable, new global order that can address common challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence safety, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

This is as the passing of a unipolar world order led by the United States is no assurance that the world will naturally arrive at a cooperative multipolar order, he said at a lecture during his state visit to Sweden.

“If anything, we are more likely than not to see growing suspicion, friction or conflicts, weaponisation of trade and materials, and a steady grind into a world of divided blocs,” he said at the Stockholm School of Economics on Oct 20.

It is critical therefore that there are states which can bring regions together, building coalitions that develop rules for a new era and to take bolder action on complex problems.

The President said these bridge builders will be nations that may be small, medium, or large. He cited Sweden, which has been building coalitions for more than half a century to support the planet’s health.

Singapore has also been working actively to advance cooperation, such as between ASEAN and the European Union, and to find ways to help small states be heard at the United Nations, he noted.

Countries must also recast the political and social narrative when it comes to climate change to the here and now, so that there is greater urgency to taking action, said President Tharman.

He cited credible surveys that showed that people are more motivated to support measures to tackle climate change if they were aware of its impact on their health.

“People know what pollution feels like, and they can see what heat stress does. And they know that those who are poorer tend to suffer the most,” he added.

Efforts to tackle the current haze affecting South-east Asian countries are an example of measures that can have both short and long-term impact, he noted.

Indonesia’s initiative to restore its peatlands, which contain 28 billion tonnes of carbon – about two times what the world emits each year – both improves people’s health immediately and is an important tool of climate change mitigation, he said.

At the same time, the world cannot achieve win-win outcomes internationally if countries face problems at home, such as of unequal outcomes and disillusionment.

President Tharman called on countries to repair and reinvigorate their social compacts, such as by returning to investing in high-quality public services, even as they redistribute resources to mitigate inequality.

Nations must also ensure that while their economy as a whole does well, workers and communities who lose out due to technological change get timely assistance to bounce back, he added.

“Markets do not relieve these problems quickly, and often not at all,” he said. “The task of government is to not let such problems fester, and to intervene to help those displaced.”

No possible world order without US, China

President Tharman stressed in his lecture that no system of global cooperation is possible without both the US and China being integral parts of such an order.

This is as the two powers have the largest markets and are the largest sources of innovation. They are also essential to tackling climate change, by virtue of the scale of their carbon emissions, he added.

While countries should not expect the US to return to the responsibilities it took on when it led the global order, neither should people assume an unchanging political mood there, said the President.

He cited surveys that consistently showed that the majority of Americans like the idea of global cooperation. One such survey by the Rockefeller Foundation found that two-thirds of Americans favoured this, even if it meant some compromise to their nation’s interests.

“In fact, a higher proportion of Americans agreed to that statement than most other developed countries,” he said.

On its part, China needs to recognise that to continue to be a large source of supply of goods to the world, it will have to be a larger source of demand than it is currently, said President Tharman. He noted that domestic reforms are under way, but will need time to raise consumption.

Bridge builders are needed between the US and China, so as to preserve economic networks that are integral to both of them, he added.

“We must maintain those overlapping networks and supply chains, that include both the US and China, and avoid as much as we can the drift towards bifurcation,” he said.

If managed well, interdependence between the US and China will be a source of prosperity for both countries, as well as a basis for peace and stability globally, said President Tharman.

“It will surely be a more dangerous world if we end up with whole AI and technology stacks decoupled, and other supply chains and payment systems decoupled,” he said. “It will make for a more profoundly dangerous world.”