Globalization and technology are hot topics at the ongoing New Economy Forum in Beijing. Parag Khanna, managing partner of Future Map and the author of "The Future Is Asian," says the world is moving into "global multipolarity," in which Asia is extremely important.

Speaking to CGTN on the sidelines of the forum, he argued that rather than use simple historical analogies to explain Asia's achievements, "we should actually use Asian history to understand Asia today."  

Meanwhile, Khanna is of the view that technology cannot be dominated by one power or one country because it is diffusing fast. He also stated that if technology makes people lose jobs, then governments should be blamed, not technology.

There is no answer for who is No.1

Explaining that simplicity is the enemy of sophisticated thinking, Khanna illustrated an example from geopolitics where everyone wants the answer to be "Who's number one? So is it America or is it China?" And a binary choice is given.

"The reality is that we are moving into this global multipolarity and we have never had a system like where we're.  Actually every continent matters for the first time in history and you have non-colonial relations between them. When Africans and South America join the Belt and Road Initiative, they do so not because China is trying to force them," he said.

Khanna noted that we have to stop governing our logic with historical analogy that comes from a very limited period of European history and applying that to the whole world. 

"Because world history tells you a very different story that tells you one of multipolarity," he emphasized. 

From his perspective, Asia is extremely important, with more than half the world's population and half the GDP. 

Even Asia has multipolarity. It's not just China; India is growing very fast. Japan is also a great power. South Korea, Russia and Australia are all Asian powers.

He argued that the Asian system is actually very different from western systems. "Rather than using simple historical analogies to explain Asia today, we should actually use Asian history to understand Asia today. And you get a much more accurate picture of what's going on."

If technology reduces jobs, government should be blamed 

Discussing whether technology creates or destroys more jobs, Khanna said he thought governance was more important. He said if technology is going to start destroying lots of jobs, then it's a social policy issue. 

"Some countries are investing in education and human capital to train their workforce to adapt to new technologies. Those are questions of governance. So you should not be blaming the technology," he said. 

"It's very easy for Donald Trump to blame China, to blame Mexico, to blame robots. Politicians will blame anyone except for themselves. But the truth is it is their fault and it has been."

Speaking of President Donald Trump's election, he said it was a result of the fact that since the 1960s the U.S. government has not invested in trade adjustment assistance. 

Trade adjustment assistance is the money that governments spend to retrain workers who have lost their jobs to technology or to globalization. 

"We have had that policy since the 1960s but barely spent any money on it... It's the truth that Donald Trump got elected because the United States has not spent enough on trade adjustment assistance for workers."