Union Minister for Commerce Kamal Nath on Monday launched Singapore-based diplomat-turned-academician and author Kishore Mehbubani’s latest book The New Asian Hemisphere: The irresistible Shift of Power to the East.

The book comes from the author of well-acclaimed books Can Asian Think? and Beyond the Age of Innocence.

Mehbubani outlines in his book what he calls “the new terrain of world history” and a big shift of power from the Western world to the non-Western nations.

“I have written this book because we are at a remarkably critical moment in history and how Asia takes it forward will play out across the whole 21st century. We are reaching the end of an era of domination of the West in world history, when new great powers arise. This historical shift with the rise of India and China is a big one and by no means will it be a smooth one. The western geo-political incompetence is fast making it part of the problem and it shows best in the way it has widened the growing divide with the Islamic world”, Mehbubani told a gathering in New Delhi at the book launch.

Minister Kamal Nath said Mehbubani was one of the “growing thinkers” of the world and his book correctly outlines the present juncture as one that will set the tone for this century.

Mehbubani is the Dean of the Lee Kuan New School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore and also serves in Boards and Councils of several institutions in Singapore, Europe and North America. He also served in the Singapore Foreign service from 1971 to 2004 with two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to UN.