The Myth of the Asian Century | A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
  • Published: 14 October 2025
  • ISBN: 9781761357992
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 160
  • RRP: $12.99

The Myth of the Asian Century | A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special

Formats & editions
Paperback
14 Oct 2025
EBook
14 Oct 2025
Pre-order from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Your Bookstore Abbeys Boomerang Find local retailers Find local retailers Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Mighty Ape

It’s time to peel away the layers of a cliché that is not just useless, but harmful.

The claim that the twenty-first century will be Asian, just as the twentieth century was American, is often made but seldom examined. Yet this axiom is not just simplistic, it could also encourage the very rivalry that most threatens Asia’s security and prosperity: between the US and China. Asia is certainly playing a more prominent role in global geopolitics, just as Europe once did and America still does. The purpose of this Paper is to unpack the layers of complexity concealed by the phrase ‘the Asian Century’. The future is too complex to be characterised by any one continent.
  • Published: 14 October 2025
  • ISBN: 9781761357992
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 160
  • RRP: $12.99
Categories:

Other books in the series
Dying for a Chat: Penguin Special
Ranjana Srivastava
Beauty's Sister: Penguin Special
James Bradley
Reclaiming Epicurus: Penguin Special
Luke Slattery
What Would Gandhi Do?
Michael Kirby
End of the Road?: Penguin Special
Gideon Haigh
Is There No Place for Me?: Making Sense of Madness: Penguin Special
Kate Richards
Beyond the Boom: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
John Edwards
Mistakes Were Made: Penguin Special
Liam Pieper
The Element of Need: Penguin Special
James Bradley
The Rise and Fall of the House of Bo: Penguin Special
John Garnaut
The Deserted Newsroom: Penguin Special
Gideon Haigh
Governor Bligh & the Short Man: Penguin Special
Peter Cochrane
Life in Ten Houses: Penguin Special
Sonya Hartnett
Take Your Best Shot: The Prime Ministership of Julia Gillard: Penguin Special
Jacqueline Kent
Ballots, Bullets & Kabulshit: An Afghan Election: Penguin Special
Toby Ralph
The Badlands
Paul French
Rudd, Gillard and Beyond: Penguin Special
Troy Bramston
The Simple Life: Penguin Specials
Rhonda Hetzel
The Tunnel: Penguin Special
Dennis McIntosh
The Adolescent Country: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Peter Hartcher
The First Dismissal: Penguin Special
Luke Slattery
The Absent Therapist: Penguin Special
Will Eaves
Condemned to Crisis: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Ken Ward
After Cancer: Penguin Special
Ranjana Srivastava
The Embarrassed Colonialist: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Sean Dorney
The Siege of Tsingtao
Jonathan Fenby
Getting Stuck in For Shanghai
Robert Bickers
The Chinese Labour Corps
Mark O'Neill
Picnics Prohibited
Frances Wood
Betrayal in Paris
Paul French
England's Yellow Peril
Anne Witchard
From the Tsar's Railway to the Red Army
Mark O'Neill
Fields of White: Penguin Special
Keyi Sheng
Chomping at the Bitcoin
Zennon Kapron
Radish
Mo Yan
The People's Bard
Nancy Pellegrini
A Billion Voices
David Moser
Flock of Brown Birds
Ge Fei
City of Protest
Antony Dapiran
Six Women of Letters: Penguin Special
Marieke Hardy, Michaela McGuire
The Bodysurfers: Penguin Special
Robert Drewe
Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice:Penguin Specials
Nam Le
Revolution: Monash University Undergraduate Prize Shortlist: Penguin Special
Emerging Writers Festival
The Kiss: Penguin Special
Peter Goldsworthy
A Selection of Smithereens: Penguin Special
Shaun Micallef
Ahead of the Game: Penguin Special
Shaun Micallef
North: Some Compass Readings: Eden: Penguin Special
Thea Astley
Adam's Bride: Penguin Special
Elizabeth Jolley
The Darkling Sisters: Penguin Special
Dorothy Hewett
One Person, One Value: Penguin Special
Bob Brown
A Sampler of Specials: Penguin Special
Penguin Books Australia
Squeaker's Mate: Penguin Special
Barbara Baynton
Inside Villawood: Penguin Special
Peter Mitchell
Badlands: Penguin Special
Paul French
What Our Minds Do When We Read Novels: Penguin Special
Orhan Pamuk
Governor Bligh and the Short Man: Penguin Special
Peter Cochrane
Starting Out: Penguin Special
Ita Buttrose
Take Your Best Shot: Penguin Special
Jacqueline Kent
A Story of Grief: Penguin Special
Michaela McGuire
Utzon and the Sydney Opera House: Penguin Special
Daryl Dellora
Does Cooking Matter?
Rebecca Huntley
The Simple Life: Penguin Special
Rhonda Hetzel
The Ellis Laws
Bob Ellis
You're Just Too Good to Be True: Penguin Special
Sofija Stefanovic
Salad Days
Ronnie Scott
The Coal Face: Penguin Special
Tom Doig
The Girl with the Dogs
Anna Funder
Beethoven in China
Jindong Cai, Sheila Melvin, Jindong Cai and Sheila Melvin
Cathay
Ira Nadel
Marrow
Yan Lianke
Nineteen Seventy-Six
Ragnar Baldursson
A Curiosity of Doubts
T. L. Uglow
From Despair to Hope
James Arvanitakis
On Listening
Martin Flanagan
Dear Hong Kong
Xu Xi
The Silver Way
Peter Gordon, Juan Jose Morales
Fighting with America: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
James Curran
Petulia's Rouge Tin
Su Tong
A Wary Embrace: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Bobo Lo
Borrowed Spaces
Christopher DeWolf
Bloody Saturday
Paul French
Choosing Openness: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Andrew Leigh
Aircraft Recognition
R.A. Saville-Sneath
Cantonese Love Stories
Dung Kai-cheung
A System Apart
Simon Cartledge
Remaking the Middle East: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Anthony Bubalo
America vs the West: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Kori Schake
Xi Jinping: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Richard McGregor
Our Very Own Brexit: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Sam Roggeveen
The Road Home
Ai Wei
The Postman
Bi Yu
Professor Su Jing'an in His Later Years
Dong Jun
Fleeing Xinhe Street
Zhe Gui
The Debt Collector
Wang Shou
Man of Contradictions: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Ben Bland
Back from the Dead: A Landmark Ruling of Wrongful Conviction in China Penguin Specials
Jiahong He
Reconstruction: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
John Edwards
The Man Who Changed the Way We Read
Jeremy Lewis
What's Next
Ian Bremmer, Douglas Rediker
Rise of the Extreme Right: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Lydia Khalil
Morrison’s Mission: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Paul Kelly
Modern Warfare: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Sir Lawrence Freedman
Uncharted Territory
Magnus Renfrew
Best Laid Plans: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special: The Inside Story of Reform in Aung San Suu Kyi’s Myanmar
Sean Turnell
India in a World Adrift: A Rising Power Takes its Place Among Rivals | A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Shivshankar Menon
The Myth of the Asian Century | A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special
Bilahari Kausikan
Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Author Quest
J. M. Lee,Nancy Gray,Vinnie Chiappini,Esther Palmer,Greg Coles
Youtility for Accountants
Jay Baer,Darren Root
The Loyalty Leap for B2B
Bryan Pearson
Nothing to Lose
A Soldier's Heart
Alexis Morgan
Streak of Lightning
Clare O'Donohue
From This Moment On
Addison Fox
Plainly Murder
Isabella Alan
The 8 Motivational Challenges
Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.
Ace Jones
Lonely is the Night
Stephanie Tyler
Sunset At Keyhole Canyon
Jesse Hayworth
Armed and Dangerous
His Broken Angel
Beth Ciotta
Payoff
Alex Hughes
Miss Mistletoe
Have Stakes Will Travel
Faith Hunter
Cathedral Windows
Ember
Pages of Sin
Kate Carlisle
Black Magic
Color Me Wicked
Nina Bangs
Hot Summer Bites
The Bride Who Fell In Love With Her Husband
Cheryl Ann Smith
Bound by Vengeance
Shannon K. Butcher
Dire Warning
Stephanie Tyler
Becoming a Rare Find
George Anders
Stand Out Networking
Dorie Clark
Youtility for Real Estate
Jay Baer,Erica Campbell Byrum
One Lesson
Lorelie Brown

About the author

Bilahari Kausikan

Bilahari Kausikan served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore. Among many appointments during his thirty-seven years in the Ministry, he was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador to the Russian Federation, and Ambassador-at-Large.

portrait photo of Bilahari Kausikan
penguin pop image
penguin pop image