January 23, 2017
If America Refuses to Lead
Just a few months ago, the notion of China as the savior of international order would have struck most as fanciful, even absurd. Yet President Xi Jinping’s debut at Davos last week amounted to an attempt to seize at least a portion of that mantle.
Decrying protectionism and defending globalization, Mr. Xi made the case for a more prominent Chinese role in global economic leadership. By most accounts, his remarks were well-received by the elite audience, many of whom are struggling with populist opposition to key features of the global order.
International politics abhors a vacuum, and it is into the breach left by the U.S. that Mr. Xi is directing his efforts. Encouraged by the perception of Obama-era retrenchment, the death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and uncertainty about the scope and nature of Trump administration engagement, China stands to benefit from any American retreat from the world.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.
More from CNAS
-
Forging an Alliance Innovation Base
Video
Daniel Kliman, Senior Fellow and Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), discusses plans to forge an Alliance Innovatio...
By Daniel Kliman
-
Can America Trust the Taliban to Prevent Another 9/11?
Commentary
For nearly 20 years, the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan has been sustained by a single, vital national interest: the clear and present danger of another September 11–like at...
By David H. Petraeus & Vance Serchuk
-
Global Supply Chains, Economic Decoupling, and U.S.-China Relations, Part 1: The View from the United States
Commentary
The trade war has defined the current adversarial relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While President Donald J. Trump has at times...
By Sagatom Saha & Ashley Feng
-
How China Is Exploiting the Pandemic to Export Authoritarianism
Commentary
The Chinese Communist Party is now undertaking its most audacious effort yet at shaping international perceptions....
By David Shullman
