No, China Isn’t Going to Lead

The world has had its delusions about China over the years, but none quite as fantastical as the notion of Beijing assuming the mantle of global leadership.

Ever since Donald Trump’s election, it has been a journalistic trope to speculate that China is about to take the lead on globalization, climate change and international diplomacy.

Knowing his audience, President Xi Jinping has stoked this tripe by mouthing all the right cliches in front of the right audiences. He gave a speech at Davos heavy on the theme of openness and promised to help lead globalization. “Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies,” Xi said, summoning his best Thomas Friedman, “is simply not possible.”

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