Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy Quotes

“The long two-thousand-year record of Chinese history clearly shows that China is fundamentally unlike America as it is reluctant to use the military option first. It is also fundamentally different from America in another regard. It does not believe that it has a “universal” mission to promote Chinese civilization and encourage everyone else in humanity to emulate it.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“China has no such economic necessity. Its economy can grow well, even without American investments.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“... the primary goal of China’s rulers is to preserve peace and harmony among 1.4 billion people in China, not try to influence the lives of the 6 billion people who live outside China.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who alerted me to a significant difference between the democratic Indian society and communist Chinese society. He shrewdly observed that India was an open society with a closed mind, whereas China was a closed society with an open mind. The same observation may well apply to American society.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“The common cause of the massive blindness of the Chinese officials in the nineteenth century was a huge Chinese philosophical assumption that China was a great self-sufficient Middle Kingdom that did not need to engage the world. As the Chinese emperor Qianlong famously told Lord Macartney, China had everything it needed. It didn’t need the rest of the world. That painful century of humiliation finally led to China opening up. Deng made the decision on pragmatic grounds. And the opening up worked: China’s economy soared. Yet, do the Chinese view this opening up as a temporary measure until China becomes strong again? Do they have a desire to return eventually to their Middle Kingdom mentality, trading with the world while remaining culturally detached from it? When China built walls and cut off communication with the rest of the world, it fell behind. When China opened up to the world, it thrived. To guarantee its continued long-term success, China should completely abandon its two-thousand-year-old Middle Kingdom mentality and decide to become the most open society in terms of economic engagement with the rest of the world. Only such a major change of mind would enable the Chinese officials to lay out the red carpet for foreign businesses, including American businesses.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Since the world needs a new champion of globalization, China can step in and fill the void, and in many ways, China has begun doing so.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“... while Chinese leaders want to rejuvenate Chinese civilization, they have no missionary impulse to take over the world and make everyone Chinese. China’s role and influence in the world will certainly grow along with the size of its economy. Yet, it will not use its influence to change the ideologies or political practices of other societies.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Should America’s primary goal be to improve the livelihood of its 330 million citizens or to preserve its primacy in the international system? If there are contradictions between the goals of preserving primacy and improving well-being, which should take priority?”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“There were at least three major contributing factors to this alienation: the relative political autonomy of provincial and city chiefs, the hubris China experienced after the 2008–2009 global financial crisis, and the relatively weak central leadership in the 2000s.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“So repression is not the sole reason why the Chinese middle classes are basically calm. Most of them accept an implicit social contract between the Chinese people and the Chinese government. As long as the Chinese government continues to deliver economic growth (with improvements in living conditions, including better environmental living conditions) and social and political stability, the Chinese people will accept the rule of the CCP.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“In terms of per capita income, the bottom half in America is better off. However, in terms of social progress, the average income of the bottom half of the Chinese people is rising much faster, albeit from a lower starting point.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“... even though many American businesses continue to prosper in China, a growing number of firms have given up hope that the playing field will ever be level. Some have accepted the Faustian bargain of maximizing today’s earnings per share while operating under restrictions that jeopardize their future competitiveness. But that doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“One simple question we should ask is which country—China or the United States—is swimming in the same direction as the majority of the other 191?”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Unlike the Soviet Communist Party, it is not riding on an ideological wave; it is riding the wave of a resurgent civilization, and that civilization has proven itself to be one of the strongest and most resilient civilizations in history.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Chinese communism is not a threat to American democracy. Instead, the success and competitiveness of the Chinese economy and society is the real challenge.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“the weaponizing of the US dollar has created a powerful global incentive to create an alternative currency for global trading purposes.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“When the dollar is no longer the dominant global reserve currency, the biggest victims would be American financial institutions, as a lot of their revenues and profits come from the global acceptance of the US dollar.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“The common cause of the massive blindness of the Chinese officials in the nineteenth century was a huge Chinese philosophical assumption that China was a great self-sufficient Middle Kingdom that did not need to engage the world. As the Chinese emperor Qianlong famously told Lord Macartney, China had everything it needed. It didn’t need the rest of the world. That painful century of humiliation finally led to China opening up.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“When China built walls and cut off communication with the rest of the world, it fell behind. When China opened up to the world, it thrived. To guarantee its continued long-term success, China should completely abandon its two-thousand-year-old Middle Kingdom mentality and decide to become the most open society in terms of economic engagement with the rest of the world.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Negotiations only succeed when countries have the flexibility to make compromises at the negotiating table. American diplomats are severely handicapped in this respect. Both absolute power and conflicting demands from domestic agencies leave American negotiators with little room for flexibility.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“If America’s goals on Taiwan are truly noble, if it wants to protect the Taiwanese people, and if, in the long run, America wants to see the gradual emergence of a democratic China, it should allow the continuation of the only democratically run Chinese society in the world, which is Taiwan. (Note: Singapore does not qualify for this description since it is a multiethnic society, not a Chinese society.) The best way to preserve the democratic system in Taiwan is for America to leave Taiwan alone. It should also forcefully indicate that it will not support Taiwanese independence.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Americans hold sacrosanct the ideals of freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion and also believe that every human being is entitled to the same fundamental human rights. The Chinese believe that social needs and social harmony are more important than individual needs and rights and that the prevention of chaos and turbulence is the main goal of governance.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“... any American effort to decouple itself from China could well result in America decoupling itself from the world.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Chinese people need to realize is that it would serve China’s long-term strategic interests for China to continue opening up its economy even while the Trump administration has been creating more difficulties for foreign businesses to either invest or export to America. Over time, this will mean more countries will be trading and investing more with China than with America.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Two thousand years of Chinese history have created a strategic culture that advises against fighting unnecessary wars in distant places. The likelihood therefore is that, while China’s strategic weight and influence in the world will grow significantly, it will not behave as an aggressive and belligerent military power.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Some have accepted the Faustian bargain of maximizing today’s earnings per share while operating under restrictions that jeopardize their future competitiveness. But that doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Few Americans can claim to know China as well as Ambassador Stapleton Roy. Born in China, a fluent Mandarin speaker, Roy also served as the American ambassador to China from 1991 to 1995 and has stayed exceptionally well informed on US-China relations. He explained what happened: In a joint press conference with President Obama on September 25, 2015, Xi Jinping had proposed a more reasonable approach on the South China Sea. Xi had supported full and effective implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, signed by China and all ten ASEAN members; had called for early conclusion of the China-ASEAN consultations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea; and had added that China had no intention of militarizing the Spratlys, where it had engaged in massive reclamation work on the reefs and shoals it occupied. Roy said that Obama missed an opportunity to capitalize on this reasonable proposal. Instead, the US Navy stepped up its naval patrols. China responded by proceeding with militarization. In short, Xi did not renege on a promise. His offer was effectively spurned by the US Navy. The big question is how an untruth becomes accepted as a fact by well-informed, thoughtful Western elites.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Marty Feldstein, who explained clearly how America’s trade deficit came about. He said: “foreign import barriers and exports subsidies are not the reason for the US trade deficit… the real reason is that Americans are spending more than they produce…”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“If Europe wants to preserve its own long-term interests, it should make the development of Africa, in partnership with China, an immediate priority. The country that attracts the largest number of African leaders to summit meetings is China. The most sensible thing for European leaders to do is to join, en masse, the next high-level meeting of Chinese and African leaders in Beijing. A massive turnout of European leaders at such a summit would send a powerful market signal. It could catalyze a powerful wave of new investment in Africa. Over time, with a strong African economy, there will be less incentive for widespread African migration to Europe. There is only one obstacle to Europe doing this sensible thing: America will object. Just look at American officials’ attempts to dissuade other countries from participating in China’s BRI (a major source of Chinese investment into the African continent).”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

“Given the challenges this presents, if the Europeans, like the Australians, want to give priority to their own existential challenges (which result from their geography), they should focus on the economic and social development of Africa. The best partner to work with to develop Africa is China. Indeed, China has already emerged as the largest new economic partner of Africa.”
― Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy