The United States President Donald Trump is wrong in starting a trade war with China and expects the world to support him.

This was vividly brought home by the mockery of American conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly who could not understand the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia with the caustic remarks that the “Malays do not have money”.

Firstly, the Vietnamese and the Cambodians are not Malays.

Secondly, it is not these three countries who are deciding how best to respond to the Trump tariffs, but the ten countries in Asean who are deciding how to best respond with ASEAN representing the most varied civilizations in the world — Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Taoism, Sikhism, Communism, and others.

We must think about the future of humanity. We are in the era of AI and on the brink of general Space Travel.

But the biggest worry of thinkers in the world is whether there will be war between the United States and China as a World War III will destroy mankind — rendering nought the promises of AI and general Space Travel.

ASEAN have the most diverse races, languages, religions, cultures, and civilizations in the world.

We must think of the future of mankind.

ASEAN should leverage on the “Unity in diversity” concept to contribute to global civilization dialogue and harmony and to save mankind from a war between US and China and a World War III.

This is where the search for the future of mankind must start with the first Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung in 1955, seventy years ago today.

(Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Bandung on Friday, 18th April 2025)