 |
| Image: Flickr User - U.S. Naval War College |
By Rafał Tomański
Journalist and geopolitical analyst Robert Kaplan on the South China Sea, China and Asia’s future.
Robert D. Kaplan is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. He is also the former chief geopolitical analyst at Stratfor and was a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board. He is the author of many books, including Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific and the forthcoming In Europe’s Shadow.
Following a speech on Asia at the Polish parliament on July 9, he spoke with Rafał Tomański. A shortened version of that interview follows.
Do you think that the age of Asia is coming?
I don’t believe that’s that simple. Asia can go through a big shock. If the Chinese economy was to implode – which I don’t believe, but it might happen – Asia would suddenly matter less. Such an implosion of the Chinese economy would affect Asian countries much more than it affects Europe and the United States. You have to remember that power is relative. One can be declining as a power but still have a lot of influence. It’s not going to be really an Asian century. Asian languages may also become more prevalent not as a main ones but as a secondary languages.
Read the full story at The Diplomat