The Trump administration’s “America First” style of unilateralism has alienated even longtime European allies. The leaders of France, Germany, the EU Commission, and China have all pledged themselves to support multilateralism — in a sign of the times, Trump’s America is left out in the cold.

Huge changes are taking place in Western politics: unprecedentedly young or inexperienced leaders have taken power in Canada, France, Austria, Ukraine, the US, and beyond. This shift shows Western voters’ increasing dissatisfaction with traditional elites and modes of governance. While “new faces” may offer the possibility of reform, the result of inexperienced leadership, especially in the US, has been disruption and chaos.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is putting forward an alternative vision of global economic development to help developing countries escape poverty, and help developed countries head off inequality and populist challenges. But the US seems poised to squander its chance to participate and thereby shape this future of infrastructure, inclusivity, and innovation.

The US has to come to grips with the changed balance of power and accept the coming of a “new era” in international relations and global governance.

The US has fallen into the hands of a wealthy predator class that controls the government.

China’s involvement in Arctic affairs can bring the region new impetus and new opportunities for development.

Labeling China and Russia revisionist powers is a declaration of a new Cold War.

If effective policy measures can't be taken to contain it, the risks to the world economy caused by the escalation of protectionism could severely disturb the world in 2018.

It is clear from this year’s Davos conference that while America has shifted its attention from maintaining the world order to strengthening its domestic economics, China is making use of the “leadership vacuum” and trying to convince the world that it is qualified.

Security and the economy are the two key areas of global governance. Zero-sum game thinking on these issues should be avoided at all costs.