Business · Malaysia Bureau
Taiwan-China conflict poses serious risks for Southeast Asia, warns diplomat
A veteran Asia-Pacific strategist has cautioned that Southeast Asian nations cannot afford to assume they would remain insulated from a military confrontation across the Taiwan Strait. Such a conflict could draw in major powers and destabilise the global economy, he warned.
LSN Malaysia ·
Kishore Mahbubani, a respected voice on regional geopolitics, has urged Southeast Asian policymakers to confront the potential fallout from a Taiwan-China military clash rather than banking on isolation from the crisis.
In remarks addressing regional vulnerabilities, Mahbubani emphasised that a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would not be contained to the immediate area. The involvement of major powers, particularly the United States, would be virtually inevitable, he suggested, with cascading consequences for the broader Indo-Pacific region.
Beyond the immediate security implications, Mahbubani highlighted the economic dimension of such a scenario. A Taiwan-China conflict would likely inflict severe damage on global trade and financial systems, with particularly acute impacts on economies deeply integrated into regional supply chains—a category that encompasses much of Southeast Asia.
The warning underscores growing concerns among regional analysts and policymakers about the stability of one of the world's most critical geopolitical flashpoints. Southeast Asian nations, many of which maintain delicate diplomatic balances between Beijing and Washington, face mounting pressure to prepare contingency plans for scenarios previously considered unlikely.