The Asia-Pacific Century Explained | Jeffrey Sachs | HORIZONS DISCUSSION

00:00 Opening remarks and welcome
02:40 Introducing the Asia-Pacific Century and the guest
03:38 Jeffrey Sachs: Horizons is the best foreign affairs journal in the world
05:50 Jeffrey Sachs on his long connection to Belgrade
06:45 Is the future Asian? Europe, America, and Asia across history
08:35 Jeffrey Sachs: The end of 500 years of Western dominance
11:30 How Europe rose to global power and destroyed itself
15:20 Colonial empires, technology, and global inequality
18:30 From Western dominance to a multipolar world
22:00 Why this is not only the Asian century
24:10 Why the rise of China should not be feared
26:00 Zero-sum geopolitics vs shared global prosperity
28:10 China’s long-term planning and effective governance
31:00 Taiwan and the risk of great-power conflict in East Asia
33:10 Nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles, and leadership failure
36:20 The war in Ukraine and its deeper origins
39:05 The 2014 Ukraine crisis and Western responsibility
43:30 NATO expansion and broken post-Cold War promises
47:30 U.S. dominance over peace after the Cold War
49:00 Jeffrey Sachs on his White House warning before the war
52:00 Ukraine neutrality and why diplomacy failed
54:30 Europe’s strategic crisis and loss of leadership
58:40 Serbia, EU enlargement, and Europe’s credibility
01:02:30 U.S. national security strategy and Europe’s future
01:06:30 Trump, American decline, and global instability
01:09:20 Small states like Serbia in great-power politics
01:12:10 Lessons Jeffrey Sachs learned advising governments
01:15:30 Missed chances for peace with Russia
01:20:40 China vs Russia: Two different reform paths
01:22:40 Energy sanctions and Serbia’s economic challenges
01:25:30 Closing remarks and audience discussion

Horizons presents a full recording of a high-level public discussion marking the launch of the 32nd issue of Horizons, titled “The Asia-Pacific Century.”

The event features Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, in conversation with Vuk Jeremić, President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development and Editor-in-Chief of Horizons.

In a wide-ranging and candid dialogue, Professor Sachs reflects on the end of five centuries of Western dominance and the emergence of a multipolar world. The conversation explores the strategic rise of Asia, the role of China and India, the limits of zero-sum geopolitics, and the importance of long-term planning and cooperation.