Embedding China in a New World of Networks

By Parag Khanna, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation.

For the second time in three years, I’m very much looking forward to the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian. The city has recently made headlines as the berth for China’s first full-scale aircraft carrier, but the Annual Meeting of the New Champions shows that it is also a hub for the new kind of diplomacy that the Forum actively promotes – and which China as host is very engaged in.

The programme looks very promising with a sophisticated slate of sessions that focus on key clusters of issues such as technology and education. Many Asian countries take these challenges very seriously, and there is growing evidence of cross-border learning in Asia, thus the presence of such a large number of ministers, academics, and experts from other Asian countries is a good sign. I look forward to presenting the concept of “hybrid reality” (www.hybridreality.me), which addresses the social, political and economic implications of human-technology coevolution, to a gathering of policy-makers and thought-leaders during the meeting.

Another aspect of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions agenda that should not be missed is the IdeasLabs. Crucially, these Labs focus not just on breakthrough innovations, but on the nuts and bolts of how to scale them to the populous and diverse Asian context. While in the mainstream discourse people fear “disruptions,” at IdeasLabs the purpose is to create and harness them for collective benefit.

There has never been a more crucial time for China to open itself to the best ideas, technologies and policies from around the world, and to showcase its own successes. There is widespread belief that China’s growing confidence will lead to an uncomfortable assertiveness. Formulations such as the U.S.-China “G-2” world only reinforce such dangerous simplifications. In fact, embedding China as a constructive leader on core functional challenges such as balanced economic growth and climate change requires creating as many networks into China as possible. The Annual Meeting of the New Champions will be a key milestone on this path.

*Parag Khanna (@ParagKhanna) is a Young Global Leader and a senior research fellow at the New America Foundaion and director of the Hybrid Reality Institute. He is attending the upcoming World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions held in Dalian, China 14-16 September 2011.