World

In this deeply candid and philosophical talk, Kishore Mahbubani confronts the most uncomfortable truth in geopolitics: The West’s struggle with China is not only about power — it’s about psychology, race, and history. For the first time in 200 years, a non-Western, non-white civilization is rising to global leadership. And beneath the rhetoric of rules-based order” and democracy vs autocracy,” Mahbubani reveals the hidden anxiety shaping Western policy — the fear of losing cultural primacy. 

In this talk, you’ll learn: 🧠 Why America’s rivalry with China feels more emotional than strategic ⚔️ How the Yellow Peril” myth still echoes in 21st-century geopolitics 📚 Why the West struggles to accept that modernity is no longer exclusively Western 🌐 How China’s rise represents a fusion, not a clash, of civilizations 🤝 Why the future depends on making the world safe for diversity,” not uniformity Mahbubani draws from personal experience, colonial memory, and global history to ask the defining question of our century: Can the West accept equality — not just in power, but in civilization? His answer is hopeful: the world is big enough for both America and China, for Western democracy and Eastern meritocracy. But only if we dismantle the Unspoken Barrier — the belief that modernity must wear a Western face.