Remarkable Reading #43: Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World and FUTURE ASIA: The New Gold Rush in the East By Rajiv Biswas

The aim of this section Remarkable Reading is pay a tribute to the books that taught, share trends & insights into where our world in the 21st century is heading in a technology enabled world, and ask the right questions.


Bolded and italics quotes and references do not belong to myself  and belong directly to the author.  The focus is to share valuable insights and teachings from the book to win business for the authors.

Two topics and trends we'll be touching on are:

1) Further exploration and detail into the rise of emerging markets (carrying on further from here and here)

2) What direct impact this has on the global economy and US (carrying on further from here, here, here, and here)




Before I begin this review, these are the areas represented in Asia-Pacific.
The global market place is fast-changing, and the next billionth have entered the Internet slowly with advances in Net connectivity and portable devices that connect to the Net. This will have a profoulnd impact on the world of marketing and advertising as well as big data and analytics.  Emerging markets within India, Asia, and Southeast Asia on one hand  provide ample opportunity for sales and business development growth, but on the other hand the risks are very high if one does not understand the finer, detailed and very very intricate cultural nuances properly.  With a population well over 3 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region, the Asian subcontinent is no doubt a visible, surfacing and materialising region and a very exciting business growth area providing you are going to put in the effort upfront to understand these countries - risk and reward.


As I mentioned in my review here, market complexities can be misunderstood when working within these markets where one size will certainly never fit all as the cultural and ethnic diversity within these regions is unique and distinctive. It is a great hobby of mine to understand the finer nuances and differences between the Asia-Pacific region and ASEAN countries and how this will impact the global economy in the 21st Century.   Chandan Nair’s CONSUMPTIONOMICS did a spectacular role in underlying some of the core cultural differences between India, China and wider ASEAN countries, as well as their impact on the wider world economy.


Rajiv Biswas’s FUTURE ASIA: THE NEW GOLD RUSH IN THE EAST is a timely, up-to-date (despite being 5 years since it was written), brave, detailed  and very smartly written book about the detailed trends happening within the Asia-Pacific and the ASEAN countries, what impact the rise of China will have on rest of the world (it is currently the world’s second largest Superpower), and what the market opportunities are  within Southeast Asia in terms of innovation, education, entrepreneurialism,  business co-operations and business growth.


Over 16 year’s I’ve been privileged and lucky enough to travel across Fiji, Australia, New Zealand (where I’m raised), India, Singapore, China, Thailand, & Indonesia, and they are all spectacularly different in their own ways and undergoing various forms and phases of development since I last visited them.  Rajiv  Biswas’s FUTURE ASIA: THE NEW GOLD RUSH IN THE EAST made me realize that despite travelling to these countries, without this book, my wider knowledge of emerging markets from a commercial, economic and business acumen  would have been incomplete.  Rajiv’s superb knowledge of Asia’s two massive powers India and China is extremely savvy and modernistic, however it is his intricate and sophisticated knowledge of continents such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and their relative growth, development, education, goals, agendas and opportunities  that ensures FUTURE ASIA: THE NEW GOLD RUSH IN THE EAST is a book that you cannot afford to miss.


Biswas has a blunt writing style, whilst his focus is on educating regarding the technological and educational growth and innovation within these regions, it is his well-informed, fact-filled, thoroughly researched, fluid and very smooth style that ensures this is a book that one cannot afford to miss.


One of the biggest revelation was how Rajiv shattered my tunnel vision by making me realize the sheer size, volume and population of the Asia-Pacific and ASEAN countries.


His understanding of the global competitive landscape within these areas, knowledge of day-to-day realities within these countries, and how they can achieve sustainable growth with global cooperation and what the key drivers are within Asia-Pacific and the ASEAN countries specifically is what makes this book relevant, befitting and very modern.


Rajiv Biswas’s summary of history of the overall region of India, China and surrounding ASEAN countries is what makes FUTURE ASIA: THE NEW GOLD RUSH IN THE EAST  powerful, well-informed, and very well articulated book.  His command and use of the English language and how he writes is exceedingly direct and deeply exhaustive.






Top takeout's include:

Page 2 - "The new frontier economies of Asia, such as Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, also offer considerable opportunites for investors with a high tolerance for significant risk"

Page 3 - "By 2025, the shape of the world economy would have changed considerably. China will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy in terms of size of nominal GDP. Similarly India's GDP will overtake that of Japan by 2025, making it one of Asia's largest economies"

Page 26 - "At the outset of the 21st Century, there is an even more far reaching shift in global economic power taking place due to the rapid ascent of China and India.  China has already become the world's second largest economy in terms of the total size of it's economy, measured in terms of nominal gross domeestic product (GDP).  An even more fundamental change in the economic balance between the Western economies of the US and Europe and the Asia-Pacific economies is about to take place, as China will become the world's largest economy by around 2025, overtaking the US, if it can maintain average real economic growth rates of 7 to 8 percent per year."

Page 34 - "The sheer size of the population in India and China, which exceeds one billion persons in each country, together with the rapid growth in the size of their market classes makes these two economies the key drivers of global shift on consumer demand growth from the OECD countries to emerging markets.  However, there are other fast growing markets in Asia"

After China and India, Indonesia Indonesia is a very large consumer market that is growing rapidly. With a population of 240 million and a middle class estimated at around 50 million to 100 million persons, depending on what measure of spending power is used, Indonesia is a key market for global multi-nationals"

Page 36 - "The Indians also visit in large numbers and can enjoy authentic vegetarian Indian cooking by specially recruited Indian chefs in the mountainship restaurant.  Indians like Swiss watches too, and the Swiss watch brand Longines used India's famous Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwariya Rai as their brand ambassador, while Bollywood hunk Hrithik Roshan has become brand ambassador for Swiss watch company Rado"

Page 43 - "In India, Azim Premji, founder of Wipro has also become an iconic figure for Indians of all generations. He transformed a small sunflower cooking oil company founded by his father which was called Western India Products Ltd into an IT software giant. Wipro's annual revenue in 2011 has reached an estimated USD 7 billion, and the company has 120,000 employees worldwide."

Page 50 - "Technology, research and development as well as innovation will become increasingly important drivers of competitive advantage in coming decades in a wide range of key manufacturing and service industries.  In the last five decades, technological leadership has continued to be an important driver of competitive advantage for US and European multinationals.  Howevver, the global competitive landscape is changing"

Page 54 - "Therefore the shape of global technology and research is rapidly changing, with Asia set to become the world's leading technology and R&D hub within a decade.  This trend is being by a range of factors, including the high policy priority that China South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan are giving to R&D spending and the related development of higher education institutions to provide a sufficient supply of highly skilled science and technology graduates.  However, the ascent of Asian multinationals is also playing a key role, as the increasing number of Asian MNCs in the ranks of the world's largest firms is also reshaping the ownership of global private sector R&D spending"

Page 97 - "Thirdly, the rise of China to become the world's largest economy will also be accompanied by rising Chinese consumer demand, as the burgeoning Chinese middle class creates a wave of consumer spending that will form the new engine for global consumer spending growth.  The implications are wide-ranging. For commodities, the implicatio ns are for continued strong growth in demand for energy sources such as solar and wind energy. Rising incomes and the growing size of the middle class will also drive incomes will also drive demand for agricultural commodities, including grains and soya bean, as well as meat, dairy products and fisheries products.  Much of this risinf Chinese demand for soft commodities will need to be met by imports, which will create significsasnt growth in demand for international supplies of such soft commodities for the Chinese market. This could be a very positive long-term trend for agricultural exporting nations such as the US, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and some sub-Saharan agricultural exporters"

Page 125 - "One important cultural change that is evident to me in Japan today is a very different attitude towards the rest of Asia compared to twenty years ago.  I feel a completely different attitude towards other Asians both from senior executives and young Japanese.  Japanese today sdeem to be much more closely engaged with the rest of Asia, and I no longer feel there is any sense of condescending attitudes towards other Asian countries. The younger generations of Japanese have a much stronger interest and empathy with emerging Asian countries.  This is a very crucial cultural change, putting Japan in a much stronger competitive position for the Asian Century and for being a leading partner in future Asian poilitical and economic co-operatiion initiatives"

Page 142 - "The Indonesian economy is rapidly becoming an important market opportunity for ASEAN companies, creating a wide range of business opportunities for ASEAN trade partners."

Page 142 - "This will also make Indonesia an increasingly important contributor to Asia-Pacific economic growth, trade and investment flows.   Indeed, Indonesia is well positioned to become the next BRIC country, creating a third Asian growth engine after China and India for the Asia-Pacific region and an important driver for the rapid economic development of ASEAN"

Page 160 - "Bangladesh is the world's seventh most populous country, with a population of around 142 million in 2010 - the fourth largest population in Asia."

Page 174 - "The Asia-Pacific region is increasingly becoming the centre of gravity for the world economy as China, India and ASEAN havbe emerged as key engines for global economic growth.  However, Asia continues to face significant challenges to maintaining peace and stability in the region"

Page 178 - "The Asia-Pacific region is becoming the new centre of global economic power in the 21st century.  In order to ensure sustained peaceful economic development and industrialisation, accompanied by poverty reduction and improving standards of living, it is a key priority for Asian countries to establish strong mechanisms to promote peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region"

Page 182 - "The development of smart cities that are globally competitive will be a key priority for many emerging Asian countries, as regions compete to attract companies and create employment growth in the high value-adding industries of the knowledge economy"

Page 186 - "As Winston Churchill stated in a speech given at Harvard University in 1943 while serving as British Prime Minister during the Second World War, strong international institutions habe an important role to play in maintaining peace and preventing conflict"
"We have learned from hard experience that stronger, more efficient, more rigorous world institutions must be created to preserve peace and to forestall the causes of future wars."  Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, 6th September 1943, The Price of Greatness", speech at Harvard University"

Modern founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Kew was a spectacularly remarkable leader who single-handedly transformed Singapore into a world-class Western economic Superpower.  Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World is a stimulating, considerate and attentive book about the future of the world economy and the role that India, China and Asia-Pacific have to play in it, and what impact it has on the global and world economy.

The absolute beauty of this book is it's ability to paint some exceedingly broadstrokes in terms of understanding the wider political scenario, what the threats are, what needs to happen in order for co-operative success, what roles and responsibilities the world's two largest population sizes (India and China) have to play, and how Southeast Asia will impact the world.


His assessment of US, India and China is accurate, detailed and his writing style is substantial and opulent in terms of understanding the extensive and spacious landscape of the wider Asian region, what changes will happen within these regions, and what impact this will have on the United States of America.

Sensitively handled and delicately handled without shying away from the fragile and tough issues, it his his diplomatic style fused with tactful and finely-tuned trends with thorough and comprehensive knowledge that ensures that this is a book that you must read if you're interested in the world economy, global affairs, and the impact of the rise of China on the rest of the world.  The views upheld in the book are lessons that can be drawn multiples times, and his accuracy and acumen in terms of the problems and issues, as well as trends are diverse and unique. 





Top take-out's include:

Preface, xvii: "It is China's intention to be the greatest power in the world - and to be accepted as China, not as an honorary member of the West"

Chapter 1 - The Future of China: "Are Chinese leaders serious about displacing the United States as the number 1 power in Asia? What does number 1 mean? How will China's behaviour towards other countries change if China becomes the dominant asian power?  What is China's strategy for becoming numnber 1? What are the major hurdles in executing strategy? How much urgency do China's leaders feel about achieving primacy in their region and beyond? How do China's leaders see the U.S. role in Asia changing as China becomes numnber 1?  Is the double-digit growth that China has maintained over three decades likely to be cointinue for the next several decades?  Will China become a democracy?  Will China actualkly become number 1?"

Page 3 - "Will an industrialized and strong China be as benign to Southeast Asia as the United States has been since 1945?  Singapore is not sure.  Neither are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, Thailand and Vietnam. ... We already see a China more self-assured and willing to take tough positions"

Page 8 - "China will inevitably catch up to the U.S. in absolutel GDP.  But its creativity may never match America's, because its culture does not permit a free exchange and contest of ideas.  How else to explain how a country with four times as many people as America - and presumably four times as many talented people - does not come up with technological breakthroughs"?

Page 16 - "The Chinese have figured out that if they stay with "peaceful rise" and just contest for the first position economically and technologically, they cannot lose"
The 21st century will see Asia recover its place in the world.  Their progress in the last 30 years entitles East Asians including the Chinese to be optimistic about their future"

Page 20 - "Is the United States in systematic decline?

Absolutely not.  The U.S. is going through a bumpy patch with its debt and deficits, but I have no doubt that America will not  be reduced to a second-rate status.  Historically, the U.S. has demonstrated a great capacity for renewal and revival.  America's strengths include no grooved thinking but rather an ability to range widely, imaginatively, and pragmatically; a diversity of centers of excellence that compete in inventing and embracing new ideas and new technologies; a society that attracts talent from around the world and assimilates them comfortably as Americans; and a language that is the equivalent of an open system that is clearly the lingua franca of the leaders in science, technology, invention, business, education, diplomacy, and those who rise to the top of their own societies around the world".

Page 21 - "....Throughout history, all empires that succeeded have embraced and included in their midst people of other races, languages, religions and cultures"

Page 24 - "Talent will not go to China.  Talent will go to America because Americans speak English and everybody fits in.  It is a country that embraces immigrants. To go and settle in China you have to master the Chinese language.  And you must get used to the Chinese culture.  And that is very difficult hurdle to clear"

Page 35 - What does the U.S. need to do to maintain global primacy?

"The 21st century will be a contest for supremacy in the Pacific, because that is where the growth will be.  That is where the bulk of the economic strength of the globe will come from.  If the U.S. does not hold its ground in the Pacific, it cannot be a world leader"

Page 57 - "India lacks fast connectivity between cities...Once it gets its logistics right - roads, ports, railways - and cuts down red tape, it will get jobs not only in IT, but in manufacturing and all.  Jobs will grow, and the country will be transformed.
To create jobs, the main thrust of reforms must be in manufacturing.  That requires a change in labor laws to allow employers to retrench workers when business demands is down, streamlining the judicial processes, reducing the fiscal deficit, loosening up the bureaucracy, and most of all, improving infrastructure"

Page 64 - "India has succeeded in modernizing its armed forces, ecspecially its navy, and defending its security.  Although the Chinese are building a port in Burma and another in Pakistan, India will dominate the Indian Ocean for a long time"
India does noit geographically fit in the Pacific.  But the contest between the U.S. and China will be in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean."

Page 84 and 85 - "The economy is driven by new knowledge, new discoveries in science and technology, innovations that are taken to the market by entreprpeneurs.  So while the scholar is still the greatest factor in economic progress, he will be so only if he uses his brains - not in studying the great books, classical texts, and poetry, but in capturing and discovering new knowledge, applying himself in research and development, management and marketing, banking and finance, and the myraid of new subjects that need to be mastered.  Those with good minds to be scholars should also become inventors, innovators, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs; they must bring new products and services to the market to enrich the lives of people everywhere".

Page 108 - Is globalization reversible?

"Globalization cannot be reversed, because the technologies that made globalization inevitable cannot be uninvented. In fact, better and cheaper transportation and communications will further advance the forces of globalization".


You can purchase a copy of  Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World  here.

You can purchase a copy of Future Asia: The New Gold Rush in the East, and follow Rajiv Biswas on Twitter here.

Thanking you kindly,

Praz aka Prashant
LinkedIN

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