[theold]

“Twenty years ago, no one was asking those questions, and we’re asking them now, It’s birthing pains, a new world of Asian countries feeling their time has come. Those kind of changes are hard to adapt to.”

Is the West still hobbled by some inner assumption of superiority? No, he says, it’s very open to new ideas, “but we do still assume that the people on the make, with the energy, will just come to us..and that’s what an imperial system looks like, you go to the centre of power”.

But America’s insecurities mean it constantly feels under attack. Asian nations resent having to pick sides, and wonder why Washington does so little to bring people together.

“There’s a sense that China has tried working out a framework that’s non-Western but which allows others to benefit,” he says.

https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts...221-p5f6o5

[red3]

Of cos along with the disappearance of expat benefits that has no economic reasons