At an Asia Society debate on US-China rivalry, Orville Schell put a pointed challenge to Kishore Mahbubani. China under Xi Jinping, Schell argued, is a different kind of power, and the world should treat it accordingly. Mahbubani’s reply draws on Washington’s own history with communist governments and ends on a question many capitals outside the West have asked for decades.
Schell’s challenge
Schell describes China as a Marxist-Leninist party-state and a new kind of techno-autocracy, a system whose character shapes how it behaves abroad. He points to the Philippines as a gauge of how Beijing treats smaller neighbours. Then he turns to Mahbubani directly: Singapore is a small country, so is it comfortable living beside a dominant China?
Mahbubani’s reply
Mahbubani opens with goodwill. The United States, he says, still holds deep reserves of it around the world, and few countries are eager to see America’s role fade.
His central argument follows. Only one country routinely passes judgement on the internal political systems of others, a habit he links to American exceptionalism. The UN Charter commits its members to non-interference, and most governments take that principle seriously.
He then reaches for history. When Washington opened relations with Beijing in the early 1970s, China was led by Mao Zedong, a leader few would describe as a champion of human rights. Today the United States actively courts Vietnam, itself governed by a communist party. For Mahbubani, these episodes show that great powers deal with regimes of every kind when their interests align. He closes by saying he could list a hundred countries that want good relations with both Washington and Beijing.
Why it matters for Asia
For Southeast Asia, this debate describes daily reality. Most ASEAN members count China as their largest trading partner and maintain close security ties with the United States, and their foreign policies are built to keep both relationships working. Mahbubani’s framing captures how much of the region already operates.
Schell’s question still carries weight in the region, especially in Manila and Hanoi, where disputes in the South China Sea test how a stronger China treats its neighbours.
Which shapes a great power’s conduct more: the nature of its government or the weight of its interests? Watch the full exchange and judge for yourself.
Further reading
Kishore Mahbubani, The Asian 21st Century (free, open access): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6811-1
Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won?
Source: Asia Society Policy Institute and Perry World House, University of Pennsylvania. Moderated by Rorry Daniels. Link to full debate
