"It was very timely for China to launch its Global Governance Initiative just before the 80th anniversary of the United Nations," said Kishore Mahbubani, former permanent representative of Singapore to the UN, at the "Vision China" event themed "Standing United: Inheriting the UN Legacy, Advancing Global Governance" at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept 15. He added that it's time for the Asian states to take ownership for the challenges that the world faces because their culture of pragmatism is exactly what the world needs.