The South China Morning Post: As the American century ends, Asia’s renaissance begins
The businesses that adapt early to engage China, India and Asean will help draft Asia’s next chapter and profit from it
Published: 4:30pm, 15 Sep 2026Updated: 5:21pm, 15 Sep 2026
The ending of the American century is coinciding with an Asian renaissance.
America remains the world’s largest economy and will stay that way for another decade or two. But its economy no longer dominates the world. And its “America first” policy has partners and allies looking for alternatives for trade and investment – and for certainty. Simultaneously, everyone else is changing. The fastest-growing economies in the 21st century will be Asian.
Business leaders must wrestle with the paradox that while America remains the world’s most powerful nation, it no longer dominates the world order it built because it is drifting away. US and European businesses that do not understand the geopolitical and cultural shifts under way, and which still operate under an obsolete rule book for trade and investment, will find that their operations and strategy no longer match what their bottom line requires.
Already, we have seen significant shifts in the relative weightage of Asian economies, especially China and India.
Three forces drive the return of Asia. First, a return to form: until about 1820, China and India were consistently the world’s two largest economies.
Second, Asia owes the West a quiet thank-you: it absorbed to varying degrees the seven pillars of Western wisdom – free-market economics, science and technology, meritocracy, the rule of law, education, pragmatism and a culture of peace.
