So the return of China and India to the center stage is normal. The 21st century will be the Asian century, and that will be a return to the norm because from the year 1 to the year 1820 - for 1,800 of the last 2,000 years - the two largest economies of the world were always those of China and India. So one of the four certainties, the first certainty is that the 21st century will be the Asian century, just as the 19th century was the European century, the 20th century was the American century. So in the five or ten minutes assigned to me, I’m going to speak about the four certainties about the future and one big uncertainty. We can make confident predictions about what’s coming. And yet at the same time, the paradoxical thing about our world today is that the future, I assure you, is going to be very surprising, but there are still four certainties. And we all know that the future is unpredictable. There’s an Arab proverb which says: He who speaks about the future lies even when he tells the truth. The following transcript has been edited for clarity: Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Kishore Mahbubani, former president of the United Nations Security Council. Former President of the United Nations Security Council Kishore Mahbubani sees the 21st century as Asia’s century, with a great opportunity to improve the lives of billions of people, but also a great threat to the current world structure.

Has China Won? by Kishore Mahbubani