New dynamics

A leading Asian intellectual says the world is transforming in ways not fully understood by the West, Andrew Moody reports.

Kishore Mahbubani believes the West is in denial about how the world is changing around it. The 70-year-old, who is one of Asia's leading public intellectuals, says it has yet to adjust to the emergence of China as the world's second-largest economy and the rise of other countries such as India. "Three of the top four economies in the world are now Asian. The West therefore ought to understand that this is not a world it can dominate anymore," he says.

"It needs to ask itself the question as to what practical and pragmatic changes it needs to make to get used to this world, but it is not doing that."