At a Bloomberg live event in Singapore on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, two veteran Asian diplomats delivered an uncomfortable argument for anyone thinking about the next decade of technology: the most consequential invention in human history is arriving at the exact moment the two powers building it are least able to cooperate on anything.
The speakers were George Yeo, former Singapore foreign minister, and Kishore Mahbubani, former president of the UN Security Council, appearing on The Mishal Husain Show Live From Singapore. Both men watched Singapore rise during the era of Western dominance. Both now argue that era is closing, and that the binary logic of the Cold War has given way to a kaleidoscopic multipolar landscape with no single organizing axis.
Yeo Puts AI Above Every Other Risk
Asked what worried him most, Yeo ranked artificial intelligence above every other item on the geopolitical table. “AI to me, overwhelmingly, because it marks a qualitative leap in human civilization,” George Yeo said. “It will change everything from top to bottom.”
His framing warned against unchecked ambition from a handful of firms or capitals, arguing that a qualitative leap of this magnitude demands responsible global management.
Mahbubani’s Paradox: Cooperation Is Needed, and Unavailable
Mahbubani sharpened the timing problem. “Humanity should be coming together to cooperate and say, how do we manage this new beast, this new monster that has emerged,” Kishore Mahbubani said. His point pivots the entire conversation. The challenge that most demands coordination has arrived precisely when the rivalry between the United States and China makes coordination least available. Recent reporting around the coming Trump-Xi summit, where AI safety is reportedly on the agenda even as neither side wants to slow down, illustrates that gap in real time, as CNBC and others have noted this week.
The Longer Arc: A Return, Not a Decline
Mahbubani situated the moment inside a much longer story. “We’ve had basically 200 years of domination of world history by one civilization, the Western civilization,” Kishore Mahbubani said. “And I guess in some ways, some degree of a surprise, we now see the return of other civilizations in the world, and of course, starting very powerfully with the return of Chinese civilization.” He framed this as a resurgence of civilizations that were excluded, a shift he argues the West has not yet psychologically accepted.
Yeo on Red Lines and the Limits of Force
Yeo’s prescription for stability turned on mutual respect for core interests. “The United States has got clear red lines, according to Singapore. Russia has got clear red lines, according to Singapore. China has got clear red lines, according to Singapore. India has got clear red lines,” George Yeo said. “Once you understand where the red lines are and you don’t go near the red lines, that’s how you preserve the peace.” His reading of why that discipline now matters more than ever came a moment later. “No, I think we’re already entering a multipolar world in the sense both the war in Ukraine and the war in the Gulf have shown the limits of physical force,” George Yeo said.
Small States and the Playbook They Suggest
For countries the size of Singapore, both diplomats argued, the new era demands nimble diplomacy, strong regional institutions, and staying connected to multiple power centers without taking sides in great-power wars. Per our editor’s segment, ASEAN has delivered 60 years of relative peace in Southeast Asia through regular dialogue and camaraderie among leaders, a track record the speakers held up as evidence that patient forums can absorb rivalry without igniting it.
Why an Investing Audience Should Sit With This
The reason to sit with these arguments has nothing to do with any single trade. It is a framework question. If Yeo and Mahbubani are right, AI is a geopolitical contest as much as a commercial one, and a world organized around red lines will price risk very differently from a world organized around a single dominant power. That is a different lens for thinking about where capital, compute and cooperation flow next, and about which coordination failures could matter most.