With live disputes in a ring around China—from the East China Sea to Taiwan to the South China Sea to the Himalayas— the kindling for a conflagration has been collected, and the “Asian Peace” since 1979 looks fragile. [...] The basic trend remains one of strategic competition between the US and China— for the US will do all it can to prevent the emergence of a peer competitor, and China will never accept second-class status. [...] The choice is ours, despite all the hype about autonomy and AI; humans are in the driving seat and use technology for war, to make money, and to control and monitor others. [...] 14 SHIVSHANKAR MENON Faced with this prospect of accelerating economic fragmentation and technological change, what should we in India do? My answer: engage more with the world economi- cally; join the RCEP or find alternatives that serve the same purpose of tapping into the most dynamic parts of the world economy which are in Asia; and use the trend towards regionalism to our advantage in our imm. [...] He has served in the mission to the IAEA in Vienna and in the Department of Atomic En- ergy in Mumbai.
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- 19
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- India