By Danny Quah, the Li Ka Shing professor in economics and dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore:
“Dear Madam or Mr. President,
Congratulations on leading the United States in a political refresh. From here in Southeast Asia, we have for decades admired and valued your country’s many gifts to the world. The United States gained our admiration by sharing with us your American Dream, showing how you succeeded, and leading by example.
But there is no denying that things have changed. Even the outcomes for which you early on fought—multilateralism, or a level playing field; a jointly stronger world economy—now seem to work against you. Toward the end of the 20th century, you advanced three grand ideas: political convergence, economic efficiency, and comparative advantage. These promised a more prosperous and egalitarian global society. But they have not delivered the outcomes for which you had wished. That must be dispiriting and exhausting.
However, I believe the world can continue to work well for you and, indeed, for all of us. To succeed, we only have to avoid gridlock. We don’t have to explicitly cooperate or even agree.
I have three suggestions…”
The world is much better off with being under American hegemony than any other superpower.
Are we obsessed with being No. 1? It kind of feels like we just fell into the position by our good fortune, and now, every alternative is just objectively worse if you aren’t a Chinese or Russian nationalist.
The US did everything in its power not to be no. 1.
If they wanted to be number 1 they would’ve never tried helping the Russians after their empire collapsed, nor would they have tried to help the Chinese become who they are today.
Is this a rehash of Quah’s “China’s rise, US decline” articles from the 2010’s? The same one who predicted that China was to soon surpass the US economy, not just in PPP adjusted terms? Like… meh, why should I take him very seriously about this? In fact, his whole schtick has seemed to rely on this specific narrative? Even is Li Ka Shing professorship is funded by a Hong Kong billionaire and his foundations whose wealth largely rely on the rise of China.
Not sure why I’m being downvoted. I do think it’s important to consider the source and their history.
What a strange article.
The author chastises the US for not doing more to uplift the bottom 50% of its population in the past 50 years, while also highlighting the loss of manufacturing jobs to China during this period, but claims China becoming more wealthy/powerful has had and will have zero negative impacts on Americans whatsoever. He also references the US’s and the Wests struggles with democratic backsliding, but completely ignores China’s support for autocratic movements and their clampdowns on human rights, both domestic and abroad.
Furthermore, this article has zero mentions of technology theft, anti-American propaganda, social media manipulation, support for enemies of the US, election meddling, etc. I guess these don’t count as negatively impacting Americans as long as overall GDP is going up or something? That’s not even addressing the implications of if China is able to exercise a more muscular foreign policy against the US or allies. An occupation of Taiwan or conflict with the Philippines/Japan/etc will certainly impact the average American’s wellbeing when the global economy tanks, even if the US isn’t drawn into an outright war.
Just a lazy and disingenuous piece. I usually expect better from FP.
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I’m pretty sure, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think China is the most obsessed in being #1 in just about every category. They are the absolute least creative in doing so as well, most of the time just stealing intellectual property, copying designs, or straight up cheating to achieve their goals. Cheating to win is also perfectly acceptable in their society as well, because they operate on the assumption that everyone is cheating. So the only way to win is to cheat better?
Look at the Olympics as another recent example. They only care about winning gold medals. They pluck talented people out of the billions they have thrust them into a sport make them train their entire lives nonstop just to achieve a gold medal for China.
America/Americas aren’t obsessed with being number 1. They don’t have to be, because they’re Americans that’s a simple enough win for most I think.
9 comments
By Danny Quah, the Li Ka Shing professor in economics and dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore:
“Dear Madam or Mr. President,
Congratulations on leading the United States in a political refresh. From here in Southeast Asia, we have for decades admired and valued your country’s many gifts to the world. The United States gained our admiration by sharing with us your American Dream, showing how you succeeded, and leading by example.
But there is no denying that things have changed. Even the outcomes for which you early on fought—multilateralism, or a level playing field; a jointly stronger world economy—now seem to work against you. Toward the end of the 20th century, you advanced three grand ideas: political convergence, economic efficiency, and comparative advantage. These promised a more prosperous and egalitarian global society. But they have not delivered the outcomes for which you had wished. That must be dispiriting and exhausting.
However, I believe the world can continue to work well for you and, indeed, for all of us. To succeed, we only have to avoid gridlock. We don’t have to explicitly cooperate or even agree.
I have three suggestions…”
The world is much better off with being under American hegemony than any other superpower.
Are we obsessed with being No. 1? It kind of feels like we just fell into the position by our good fortune, and now, every alternative is just objectively worse if you aren’t a Chinese or Russian nationalist.
The US did everything in its power not to be no. 1.
If they wanted to be number 1 they would’ve never tried helping the Russians after their empire collapsed, nor would they have tried to help the Chinese become who they are today.
Is this a rehash of Quah’s “China’s rise, US decline” articles from the 2010’s? The same one who predicted that China was to soon surpass the US economy, not just in PPP adjusted terms? Like… meh, why should I take him very seriously about this? In fact, his whole schtick has seemed to rely on this specific narrative? Even is Li Ka Shing professorship is funded by a Hong Kong billionaire and his foundations whose wealth largely rely on the rise of China.
Not sure why I’m being downvoted. I do think it’s important to consider the source and their history.
What a strange article.
The author chastises the US for not doing more to uplift the bottom 50% of its population in the past 50 years, while also highlighting the loss of manufacturing jobs to China during this period, but claims China becoming more wealthy/powerful has had and will have zero negative impacts on Americans whatsoever. He also references the US’s and the Wests struggles with democratic backsliding, but completely ignores China’s support for autocratic movements and their clampdowns on human rights, both domestic and abroad.
Furthermore, this article has zero mentions of technology theft, anti-American propaganda, social media manipulation, support for enemies of the US, election meddling, etc. I guess these don’t count as negatively impacting Americans as long as overall GDP is going up or something? That’s not even addressing the implications of if China is able to exercise a more muscular foreign policy against the US or allies. An occupation of Taiwan or conflict with the Philippines/Japan/etc will certainly impact the average American’s wellbeing when the global economy tanks, even if the US isn’t drawn into an outright war.
Just a lazy and disingenuous piece. I usually expect better from FP.
[removed]
I’m pretty sure, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think China is the most obsessed in being #1 in just about every category. They are the absolute least creative in doing so as well, most of the time just stealing intellectual property, copying designs, or straight up cheating to achieve their goals. Cheating to win is also perfectly acceptable in their society as well, because they operate on the assumption that everyone is cheating. So the only way to win is to cheat better?
Look at the Olympics as another recent example. They only care about winning gold medals. They pluck talented people out of the billions they have thrust them into a sport make them train their entire lives nonstop just to achieve a gold medal for China.
America/Americas aren’t obsessed with being number 1. They don’t have to be, because they’re Americans that’s a simple enough win for most I think.
Sincerely, #2