An evening exploring the New Cold War

Sir Robin is an expert on relations between Europe, the United States, and Asia, and shares his expertise in his new book The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century which examines the relationship and tensions between the US and China.

Niblett opened the talk with an explanation of his background and experience, focused mainly on his time working with Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He explained that Chatham House is an international relations policy institute that was founded after the end of the Second World War, and that it is an independent organisation, funded by members of the organisation. Members can be both individuals and companies. Sir Robin was the CEO until two years ago, and he described the organisation’s aims as to take an objective study of international relations and to ‘take the secrecy out of diplomacy’. Sir Robin explained briefly the principle of the Chatham House Rule, which is used around the world and states that participants of a meeting may use the information shared within the meeting, but not identify the source of the information.

The discussion then moved onto his assessment of the current international situation. Niblett likened the current feeling to being remarkably similar to the early 1950s and 1960s, which were the early years of, as he coined it, the ‘original’ Cold War. Sir Robin asserts in his book that the world is again in a state of cold war, this time between the United States and China. Niblett discussed how China has the potential to become the most powerful challenger to America’s global dominance. Unlike the Soviet Union, which Niblett describes as being ‘shoved’ into the role after the second World War, China has had a long journey to its position as a global superpower. And with its enormous population of 1.4 billion, Sir Robin argues that it has all the capabilities for challenging the United States.

Niblett closed the discussion with an examination of the United States, which he argues was a ‘reluctant’ leader, but one which is now used to being the centre of the world stage. He successfully predicted Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election, noting that it is not in America’s nature to be concerned with the rest of the world, and that Trump was playing to that very well in his campaign. Sir Robin then took some questions from the audience, which promoted discussion about the role of gender in international relations, and whether it was appropriate for foreign secretary David Lammy to have travelled to China to meet with President Xi Jinping, as he had done the week of the Literature Festival.

Ultimately the evening ended with a book signing event and some more conversations with individual audience members, including myself and my guest. With his experience and expertise, it was no surprise that the talk from Sir Robin was informative and nuanced, as well an entertaining! If you are interested in understanding the contemporary relationship between the United States and China, how the UK fits into this dynamic, or simply want to an insightful and informative read, I would definitely recommend The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century.