Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a special address at the 2022 World Economic Forum virtual session, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan 17, 2022. (HUANG JINGWEN/ XINHUA)

In the midst of various global and regional geopolitical issues, the pandemic and trade frictions, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a special address on Jan 17 to the 2022 World Economic Forum virtual session. 

The key themes that underlined his speech demonstrated the rise of a world leader in Xi, as well as China as a country. In a speech full of symbolism and anecdotes, Xi talked of his country’s willingness to provide additional COVID-19 vaccines, the urgent need for global collaboration to overcome political, economic, security and health crises and gridlocks as well as to jettison Cold War approaches and mentality to world challenges. 

It was clear that the Chinese leader’s speech was aimed at delivering a powerful message against the politics of divide and rule and one-upmanship, and instead calling for a win-win approach to world problems. 

Essentially, Xi’s speech was about optimism, confidence, forward-looking and being problem solving, be it through exemplary leadership at home or abroad. Clearly, the ‘Century of Humiliation’ is behind China today. At a time of non-stop crises around the world, Xi attempted to provide a stable hand and anchor that aims to push the clouds of uncertainty away and assert a can-do human spirit. 

China and the Asian region, directly and indirectly, were being projected as the future, be it in the political, economic, strategic or even innovation domains. Without referring to it as the Asian paradigm, Xi talked of endemic multiple crises that if left unaddressed could deal a great setback to those who fail to tackle them, to the detriment of the people under such leaders. People simply cannot live on empty words or hyped media promises of feeling good.

Today, the West — the United States as well as Western Europe — are in deep crisis. This was because their system of governance was in jeopardy as their democracy has failed, and Western hegemony of more than 500 years was in regression. This was best evident in the Capitol Hill attack on Jan 6 in Washington last year, on the so-called citadel of American democracy. 

In short, the decline of the West could not be reversed.

In the words of Xi, while small boats may not survive a storm, “a giant ship is strong enough to brave a storm”. However, China is not going to lead the world through ideological or military power but rather through cooperative efforts. 

Rather than through the ‘Monroe’, ‘Truman’, ‘Eisenhower’, ‘Carter’ or even ‘Bush’ Doctrines, China is going to lead the world through example and more important, by helping others to address and overcome their multiple challenges.

The championing of economic globalization, the need to build bridges — not walls —to promote economic growth, open integration, fostering internationalism rather than nationalism, the dangers of unilateralism and protectionism, the threat of bullying and hegemony, the need to be sensitive to climate change and environmental protection, and the all-important goal of common prosperity, were recurrent themes that Xi outlined throughout his speech. 

Even though Xi has not left China since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, his statesmanship in the midst of the global political, economic and health crisis cannot be denied or dismissed. Clearly, after the terrible injustice inflicted by the West on China since the mid-nineteenth century, today, China has arrived as a great power and Xi’s speech was a testimony of this.

By using Chinese characteristics to describe China’s leadership, including the need to ‘add wings to the tiger’ as the Year of the Tiger, the zodiac sign in the Chinese calendar, is about to arrive, Xi is clearly showing a different China, more confident and articulate, and where the words are backed by deeds and sheer power of China as a modern state. 

This involves, not just talking about strength but also using it for goodwill, as evident from the fact that 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have already been exported by China to 120 countries and another 1 billion will be provided, including a donation of 600 million doses to Africa and 150 million doses to the neighbors in Southeast Asia. The West combined is nowhere near China in this regard.

In the final analysis, Xi’s speech was about how to move forward in a world that is wracked by multiple crises.

With the all-round withering of the West, both internally and externally, and Washington’s downsizing of its “global policeman” duties, best evident from its retreats from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, the world is at a cusp of a new world order and where the role and importance of China is likely to be in terms of being the primus inter pares as far as global decision-making and agenda-setting are concerned.

The author is the deputy head of the Political Science Department at the National University of Singapore. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.