President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. Getty Images

Chinese President Xi Jinping is about to take center stage at the ultimate gathering of globalists from the world over, and he hopes to make his country the middle of global attention while he's at it. Xi will speak before elite business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos next Tuesday, just days before populist President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office in the United States. Beijing will use the appearance in Switzerland to favorably contrast Xi and China with Trump and the United States. Already before taking office, Trump has leaned hard on American companies to keep operations in the U.S., and he has chosen vocal China critics for top positions on trade and defense. In contrast, Xi is expected in his opening plenary speech to play up China as a proponent of globalization.

"I think China's trying to send a signal that it's the world's most responsible stakeholder. The U.S. by contrast is a greater source of anxiety, tensions and volatility," said Scott Kennedy, deputy director, Freeman Chair in China Studies, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The growing tensions between the U.S. and China gives this a bigger, larger significance than it otherwise would have," he said.



Xi will be the first Chinese president to attend the World Economic Forum's Davos gathering and comes as part of a state visit to Switzerland, just ahead of the Lunar New Year. Xi is a well-traveled Chinese leader who is also expected to consolidate his own power within China at a Communist Party congress this fall. As the leader of the world's second-largest economy, Xi will embrace the opportunity at Davos to show that the international community needs to pay attention to China's interests. "More than ever, China has to raise a voice, when we know President-elect Trump is challenging, criticizing China," said Richard Attias, who produced the World Economic Forum in Davos for 15 years and now heads consulting firm Richard Attias & Associates. "When you are challenged you need to react and I think what President Xi is doing is right." At Davos, the Chinese "will talk to the businesses coming to explain to them, despite all the promises of President-elect Trump, [that] China will still be an interesting place to invest and include in your strategies," Attias said. Beijing has taken several recent steps to position more at the center of global trade and finance. Last January, China launched the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to serve as a financing alternative to the U.S.-led World Bank. More recently, China is stepping in replace the United States as the central player in Pacific trade, following the U.S. Congress' failure to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that was negotiated by the Obama administration.



'... increased tensions in coming years'