Hong Kong needs to develop its “geopolitical instincts” to navigate the US-China rivalry amid the broader global shift in power from the West to the East, a former top diplomat from Singapore has said.

Kishore Mahbubani, who previously served as Singapore’s permanent representative to the United Nations and president of the UN Security Council, also called for the West to cede ground to emerging powers in international organisations amid the rise of a multipolar world.

Mahbubani was speaking in Hong Kong on Wednesday at the latest Fullerton Forum, a lecture series organised by the University of Hong Kong’s Centre on Contemporary China and the World.

Responding to a question about Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” governing model, Mahbubani said the city’s “differentiation” from mainland China was an asset and called on its leaders to communicate that point more strongly both domestically and abroad.

“At the end of the day, Beijing wants Hong Kong to succeed, and one of the reasons why … is because the United States doesn’t want Hong Kong to succeed,” he said.

“In the US-China contest, Hong Kong is going to become a political football, and if you are going to be caught in the geopolitical game, the Hong Kong establishment must develop geopolitical instincts,” Mahbubani said.