“There are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.” - Lord Palmerston

COMMENT | Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent three-day visit comes at a time of extraordinary geopolitical upheaval in the world, bringing to mind an old Malay proverb.

“Gajah sama gajah berjuang, pelanduk mati ditengah-tengah” (when elephants fight, the mousedeer die in the middle).

Yes, Xi’s visit was planned well in advance of the “tariff war”, but make no mistake, sooner or later, our US$500 billion economy will be caught up in a brutal and bruising trade war between the United States’ US$29 trillion economy and China’s US$18 trillion economy.

How do we walk the tightrope? How will we pull off the balancing act? How will we maintain our permanent interests? An understanding of Chinese history, politics, and culture could prove immensely useful in these difficult times, but our academia and our mainstream media have said little so far. Why?