There’s no denying that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos was a strong pitch for globalisation and free trade at a time when the world is witnessing dangerous isolationist tendencies. Xi urged global business and political elites to reject trade wars and protectionism, and remain steadfast to economic policies that have fuelled decades of global growth. In fact, he blamed failures in governance, not globalisation, for the pheavals around the world and called on billionaires and leaders to close wealth gaps and improve financial regulations.

That Xi’s assertions come against the backdrop of the incoming Donald Trump presidency in the US is not lost on anyone. Trump’s stated policies – although there’s no telling what he will finally do – are the exact opposite of what Xi has suggested. Trump wants to raise tariffs on imports to ‘protect’ American businesses, clamp down on outsourcing to ‘save’ American jobs, and re-negotiate trade agreements to favour the US. Never mind that all of this would entail dismantling decades of painstaking progress in creating a global economic architecture that favours multilateralism and free trade to the benefit of all.

And lest we forget, Trump wants to label China as a currency manipulator. He has even threatened to hold Washington’s acknowledgement of the ‘One China’ policy as a bargaining chip to get Beijing to change its economic policies. But look where the world stands today – while the incoming Trump administration threatens to reverse the gains of globalisation, it is China that is emerging as the champion of the global order. This was again highlighted at the

APEC Economic Leaders’ Summit in Lima, Peru, last year where Xi spoke out against protectionism and affirmed China’s commitment to opening up and boosting foreign investments and imports.

Add to this Chinese transnational connectivity projects such as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road of the 21 st century, and it’s clear which country is plugging for globalisation. Xi is right that the solutions to the challenges that the world faces today lie in greater globalisation, not less globalisation. When we pool our resources and work together, our chances of success dramatically improve. Besides, issues such as global warming and transnational terrorism cannot be dealt with in silos. We need multilateral cooperation.

That said, despite China’s welcome pitch for multilateralism, why do countries continue to be sceptical of Beijing’s position? Put in another way, what is Beijing getting wrong that Washington in a previous era got right? I believe the difference is in soft power. There’s no denying that China today has loads of hard power – a big military, loads of foreign exchange reserve, and massive capital to invest in foreign destinations. However, it still lacks sophisticated soft power. In fact, Chinese soft power today is restricted to culture products –Chinese dance, theatre, art and language. While this is all very well, real soft power stems from ideas.

The US, for example, has long projected itself as the champion of liberty and democracy. And US cultural projects such as Hollywood have ably supported this ideal. In the same vein, China too needs to come up with an appropriate civilisational ideal for the world behind which the international community can rally. This is absolutely imperative if China is to actually lead the global order.

However, this is easier said than done for China given its unique domestic situation. Path- breaking ideas would need to go through several filters of the Chinese political system – a system that has also given China its tremendous growth. Nonetheless, if China truly wants to emerge as the load-pillar of globalisation – a praiseworthy notion – it must shore up its soft power and come up with a civilisational ideal for the international community. How it does that would be interesting to see.