Opinion | Beijing must be clear-eyed about its national interests abroad

US President Donald Trump is bringing back the law of the jungle to the world as he systematically dismantles the post-war rules-based international order built and forged by the United States and its allies.

His speech last month at Davos, Switzerland, contained a blunt message: the US was done “keeping the whole world afloat”, where “everybody took advantage of the United States”.

Trump is unabashed about what he wants. He flexed American muscle and ignored international norms by abducting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, demanding the acquisition of Greenland and threatening to bomb Iran over the killing of several thousand protesters.

Exasperated over the ever-widening rift with the US, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged middle powers to unite in countering the rise of hard power and great power rivalry but offered little in the way of concrete clues on how to achieve this goal, given the disarray among Western allies.

Amid this great uncertainty, China has been widely hailed as a winner. Last month, Trump signalled a further retreat from the international stage by withdrawing the US from 66 international organisations, including various UN entities focused on climate, health and development.

January was not even out but China could not resist the temptation: Xinhua News Agency published a long article on January 25 hailing President Xi Jinping’s credentials as a world leader trying to bring countries together. Last month, Xi received prime ministers from Ireland, Canada, Finland and the UK, plus other foreign leaders, stressing the importance of multilateralism, global trade and international law.