The Avoidable War: The Hon Kevin Rudd AC In-Conversation with The Hon Mike Rann AC CNZM

Presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre
Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister of Australia, and internationally respected diplomat and China-watcher, offers a chilling vision of what a superpower conflict in Australia’s region might look like, and proposes a way forward to avoid it.
A war between China and the United States would be catastrophic, deadly, and destructive for all involved - but it is no longer unthinkable. The relationship between the United States and China, the world's two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. It rests on a seismic fault of cultural misunderstanding, historical grievance, and ideological incompatibility. No other nations are so quick to offend and be offended. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily. But is war truly inevitable?
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has studied, lived in, and worked with China for more than forty years, and is one of the very few people who can offer real insight into the mindsets of the leaders whose judgements will determine if a war will be fought.
The Avoidable War demystifies the actions of both sides, explaining and translating them for the benefit of the other. Geopolitical disaster is still avoidable, but only if these two giants can find a way to coexist without betraying their core interests through what Rudd calls "managed strategic competition". Should they fail, down that path lies the possibility of a war that would rewrite the future of both countries, our region, and the world.
In this presentation Kevin Rudd will discuss ideas from his book The Avoidable War, followed by a conversation with The Hon Mike Rann AC CNZM.
www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au