The world faces the grim prospect of nuclear war as the Ukrainian conflict drags on, a former Asian leader has warned.
“I don’t think you can make Russia surrender,” former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said of the ongoing war in Ukraine on Friday, the second day of the Future of Asia conference hosted by the Nikkei news group. in Tokyo.
“They will fight to the end, and in desperation they may resort to the use of nuclear weapons,” said the former statesman, who will turn 98 in July, adding that not only Ukraine and Russia, but “the whole world will suffer.”
Mahathir served as the Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020.
“Nuclear war is the worst kind of war because of the magnitude of the destruction it causes,” he said, reflecting on the end of World War II when two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
A summit of the Group of Seven (G7) of the world’s most developed nations was held in Hiroshima last week.
“It seems that the G7 countries went to Hiroshima trying to persuade the Global South that they should support the West’s efforts in the Ukraine war,” Mahathir said.
The Global South is a term generally used for the less developed countries of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, as opposed to the more prosperous nations of the Global North, which include North America, Europe, and Australia, as well as several countries rich Asians like Japan. , South Korea and Singapore.
“We must not get involved in wars,” said the former president before criticizing what he called “the mentality of some countries.”
“Global North thinks that war is a solution to conflicts between nations,” Mahathir said.
“Russia and the West were partners in the war against Germany,” he said, “but immediately after the war, the West decided that their new enemy was Russia, so they established NATO.”
‘world government’
The rivalry between the two world superpowers China and the US once again came to the fore at the Future of Asia event, in its 28thhe year this year.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday that his country “welcomes the G7 announcement that they are prepared to build a stable and constructive relationship with China.”
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong went further, adding: “Any attempt to contain the rise of China or limit the US presence in the region will have few takers. Nobody wants to see a new cold war.”
For his part, Mahathir Mohamad urged Asian countries “should not take sides to support either the United States or China.”
“We should support the world that includes the United States, China and the rest.”
“We should free ourselves from Western influences in both the economic and political fields,” said the former leader, known for his anti-Western rhetoric.
In his opinion, the United Nations as an organization must be restructured to lead global efforts in dealing with common global problems such as climate change, pandemics and the consequences of wars.
“We should think of a common approach to face world problems, through a kind of world government,” he said.
Organized annually by Japan’s Nikkei since 1995, Future of Asia is “an international gathering where political, economic and academic leaders from the Asia-Pacific region offer their views candidly and freely on regional issues and Asia’s role in the world”.
This year’s theme is ‘Harnessing the power of Asia to meet global challenges’.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave a speech Thursday saying Tokyo is “focused on co-creating the future” with its Asian partners.
Edited by Mike Firn.
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