GEAB 192

Until now, it has been a question of preventing China from overtaking the United States in terms of technology. In 2025, not only will the West realise that China has already overtaken it, but above all that it is not China but the whole of Asia that has overtaken it: not just in terms of growth rate, production capacity or the application of new technologies, but also in terms of capacity for innovation and leadership.

English is disappearing from language learning in Asia in favour of Chinese[1]; in ASEAN, Japanese car factories are being replaced by Chinese factories[2], strategies to bypass the Chinese production force via the ASEAN countries (China+1) are simply weaving China’s commercial and diplomatic network, which ASEAN so badly needs in order to build the factories and supply the raw materials to meet demand. The Silk Roads are at work throughout Asia, generating development, income and all the connectivity that ASEAN needs[3],… in open source[4],… From now on, the more we force this region of the world to choose between China and us, the more we will lock them into a growing dependence on China.

It is this reality that we believe the West is about to take on board this year, forcing them to change their attitude towards China completely… unless they are prepared to cut themselves off from the whole of Asia, not least because China’s isolation strategies will clearly appear to be lost this year.