Is the World Bipolar Not Multipolar?

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00:00Andy, what do you make of that?

00:03Do you agree that the US remains the only viable leader

00:08of the free world?

00:09Well, Melinda, I would actually say that we are not yet

00:12in a multipolar world, and in many important ways,

00:16we are in a bipolar world that is, in many important ways,

00:21not that different from the US rivalry with the Soviet Union,

00:26in that there really are two global superpowers.

00:31So the US, in terms of its economy,

00:34in terms of its technological level,

00:38China really is the only other peer competitor.

00:43And I think if we look at statements from people like Elbridge Colby,

00:47who I believe also served in the first Trump administration,

00:51also is in the second,

00:52we look at SecDef Hague South's statement about the importance of China

01:00as a pacing challenge, economically as well as militarily,

01:05that whether China wants it or not,

01:08certainly the US is treating China as an adversary.

01:14And I think, you know, Carla makes some very interesting points

01:17that are really just maybe ideological talking points

01:24about so-called freedom, et cetera.

01:27You know, when we think about this question of freedom,

01:31it's freedom from economic insecurity,

01:36freedom from worry about violence,

01:39things like that,

01:41that it's a much broader conception of freedom and human rights.

01:45And if we look at China's record,

01:47certainly since 1978,

01:49with the beginning of opening an economic reform,

01:52China's not only lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty,

01:56lifted them into the middle class,

01:59but also, I think,

02:00improved human rights for China

02:04in many, many important ways.

02:07Now, of course,

02:08the political system is founded on very different values

02:12that go back not just to the CPC,

02:15but I would say to the very roots of Chinese civilization

02:18going back thousands of years.

02:20And in some ways,

02:21this is also the cause of this conflict

02:24in that the US starts from what some might describe

02:28as politics masquerading as an extreme religious ideology.