Bilahari kausikan biography samples

GB: Let’s start with post-pandemic China. How do you see post-pandemic China shaping up?

BK: One of the big things that has happened over the last 10 years – even before the pandemic – is a significant diminution in China’s international image globally. The degree may differ from country to country, but while China’s achievements have been widely recognized – nobody would deny them – the wrinkles and warts have begun to show much more than before. The Zero-Covid policy was just one example: the chaotic forced exit from Zero-Covid certainly did not help.

I think that China is still a great story. It is the greatest story of the 20th century. And it will be an important geopolitical player. But everybody now a better understanding that this is not some supernatural entity that is destined to rise indefinitely with supernatural powers or something like that. It is a country with great strengths but also great flaws – both of which the pandemic threw into sharp relief.

Everybody now a better understanding that this is not some supernatural entity that is destined to rise indefinitely with supernatural powers or something like that.

GB: What are some of these Chinese strengths and weaknesses coming out of the pandemic?

BK: The pre- and post-pandemic strengths and weaknesses remain unchanged. The pandemic just highlighted them. China has always been able to set goals and pursue them relentlessly over the long term. That can be a great strength when compared with some of the more changeable Western democracies. However, the ability to set and pursue goals over the long run is only a strength if the goal that you choose is the correct one in the first place. Two ends of the spectrum in this regard are Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Mao’s decisions to pursue the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were unmitigated disasters. Millions of people died. On the other hand

[Note: This is the free preview within the dedicated podcast section of the ASEAN Wonk website, with the full version in a post published on January 16, 2025 available to our paying subscribers. This is not meant to serve as new content and is part of our free preview content within the dedicated website podcast section].

ASEAN Wonk: Welcome to the ASEAN Wonk Podcast, where we bring you expert insights and regional perspectives on Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific geopolitics and geoeconomics. I'm your host, Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran. If you haven’t already, do subscribe to the ASEAN Wonk platform so you don't miss all our posts.

Our guest today is Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan, who served as a Singapore diplomat for over three decades, including as permanent secretary of the foreign ministry, permanent Representative to the United Nations and ambassador to Russia. We start our conversation talking about how Southeast Asian countries are positioning themselves in the shifting global order. Make sure you watch, listen, or read the full episode as we go through a number of other subjects, including contingencies related to Taiwan, flashpoint management and Southeast Asia’s geoeconomic prospects going forward.

Note: The transcript that follows the above free clip preview has been lightly edited for clarity and organized into sections for ease of quick browsing. For all ASEAN Wonk Podcast episodes, full video and audio podcasts, along with edited and sectioned transcripts as well as block quotes, will be a premium product for our paying subscribers, but we will include a short free transcript preview and a clip for all readers to maintain accessibility. Paying subscribers can find the rest of the full transcript and the full video podcast right below the paywall. If you have not already, do consider subscribing, and, if you have already done so and like what you see and hear, do consider forwarding this to others as well who may be interested. Tha