While the policies and threats of the U.S. President, Donald Trump, the protagonist of the Davos forum this week, seem to distance Washington from some of its traditional partners, China has been restrained in crises such as those in Gaza, Venezuela or Greenland, an apparent inaction that has contributed to expanding its sphere of influence beyond Asia.
The parade of visits in recent months, with the leaders of France and Canada having passed through Beijing and those of the United Kingdom and Germany soon to do so, can be read as a return on the Asian giant’s bet on multilateralism against the “America First” championed by President Donald Trump. In the case of the British Prime Minister, Keith Starmer, the visit will take place after his Government has given the green light to the new Chinese embassy in London, a mega-project that is controversial due to the security implications of its location and to which internal opposition was also joined by that of the US.You can also read: Trump withdraws invitation to the Canadian Prime Minister to participate in the Gaza Peace Board
Contrasts in Davos
The Davos (Switzerland) Economic Forum, held this week, has also been a key stage where the radically opposing strategies of Washington and Beijing, as well as their consequences, have been highlighted. Countries of weight that in recent years distanced themselves from China, such as Canada or France, have extended their hand to the Asian giant these days, while attendees witnessed a new shift by Trump in his pretensions about Greenland, which he threatened to invade. From Davos, Chinese Vice Premier and chief negotiator He Lifeng defended economic globalization in his case, called for the rules to be applied “to all” and warned against a return to “the law of the jungle, where the strong intimidates the weak”. The controversy with Greenland, along with the intervention in Venezuela and the policy towards Iran “will end up dynamiting Washington’s traditional alliances”, says Professor Hung Wing Lok of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to EFE, who recalls that China has been directing its actions for some time to “position itself as an alternative to the global order led by the US.” Faced with a European Union that has closed ranks against Trump’s claims regarding Greenland, the waters with China are returning to their course, at least in commercial matters that had strained ties, such as that of Chinese electric vehicles, in which Brussels and Beijing have reached a minimum price agreement. Fishing without getting wet“China is benefiting from maintaining a low profile on many current issues,” says Hung, who sees it as comparable to the strategy of “fishing without getting their hands wet.” The opportunities opened up by trade disputes between the US and the EU, what happened with the Chinese embassy in London, or the pragmatic turnaround that the recent visit to Beijing by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney represented, are some of the examples cited by Hung, an expert in Chinese foreign policy. The United States “will lose its clear advantage over China in strategic relations with the great powers” by 2035, considers Professor Yan Xuetong, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University in his recently published book “Inflection of History: Configuration and International Order 2025-2035”. Yan, one of the most influential voices in the Chinese academy on international relations, predicts that in the next decade Washington will see its global weight reduced, especially in economic matters, although he believes it will maintain a larger security ally network than Beijing’s. The academic’s prediction aligns with the Asia Power Index, compiled annually by the Australian Lowy Institute, according to which “the U.S. is losing ground in Asia,” where the policies of the Trump administration and its indiscriminate trade war have had a negative effect that has benefited China. In 2025, the distance between the two powers decreased to its narrowest margin in five years (scores of 80.5 US, 73.7 China and 40 India), with China “well positioned to weather the coercive economic policies of the US and successfully positioning itself as a reliable partner amid uncertainty about the US stance towards Asia”. Meanwhile, Singaporean foreign affairs analyst Ja-Ian Chong tells EFE that China has won in the eyes of the world due to the skill it has shown in resisting US pressure and the impression of “consistency, strength and resilience”. “By 2035, having to choose sides between China and the United States on specific issues will likely be a normalized international phenomenon,” summarizes Yan Xuetong.
