For many of us born in the 90s, we’ve only known one world: A world where the US has been the singular hegemon, leading what we call a unipolar world. This has been the case since the tail end of the Cold War and especially so after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

But things are changing. There’s plenty of talk about a shift towards a multipolar world. This isn’t just what’s been said by leftists or anti-colonialists from the global south. It was also highlighted by the Canadian Prime Minister and former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney in his speech at Davos on a new world order. He called it a “rupture.” 

So, how do we make sense of these changes? And what does it mean for Malaysia?

In this two-part conversation, I speak to Dr Lim Teck Ghee, who’s an economic historian, author and public intellectual. His new book “China Rising: USA and West Responses” is a compilation of over 50 column articles in Oriental Daily over the past 4 years, focused on, as the title suggests, the emergence of China as a global political and economic force. 

In part one of the conversation, we focus on: 

• The key features of a unipolar US-led world order

• What shifting towards a multipolar world means

• How China went from a poor country to the second largest economy

• Popular misconceptions of China

• What does democracy mean in China?

• Significance of Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney’s speech at Davos

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