Opinion | China should free itself of ‘zero-sum thinking’ and help create new rules for a multipolar world
- Beijing shouldn’t use the China-US binary to define the world but instead forge ties with other Asian nations without behaving like a big power or causing anxiety among smaller neighbours
- Many Asian countries want China to treat them as brothers and sisters who share a common identity and similar security concerns, Malaysia’s Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong says

The world is at a historic juncture. When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, it signified the effective end of the cold war and the emergence of a world order in which the United States was able to act as the world’s sole superpower. In many ways, 2019 appears to be the year in which the world is again in “reset” mode.
At first glance, everything looks confused and there are already predictions of a coming cold war between the world’s two largest economies: the US having labelled China as a “strategic competitor” two years ago.
China continues to rise in both influence and significance, and will definitely play a major role in international relations in the decades to come. To a large extent, its choices will shape the future of the region and it is my fervent hope that Beijing will not choose to define the world as a China-US binary.
China should try to break free of such a dichotomy and instead forge ahead with other Asian nations, without behaving like a big power or causing anxiety among its smaller neighbours – many of whom would like to see it embark on a whole new path and start treating them as brothers and sisters who share a common identity and similar security concerns.