Will new US trade policies drive the world into China's arms?

What the Arabic press is saying about the US leadership.

President Donald Trump's isolationist and protectionist policies have raised concerns across the Arab world and beyond. Evan Vucci AP Photo

Three days before the new American president, Donald Trump, pledged to “put America first” in his inaugural address, Chinese president Xi Jinping positioned himself as a defender of globalisation and free trade as he delivered a keynote speech on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Writing in the London-based pan-Arab daily newspaper Al Arab, columnist Dr Khattar Abou Diab wrote that the Chinese president’s speech was an attempt to stir global concern over Mr Trump’s isolationist and protectionist policies.

“For the first time ever, China has dared to voice its readiness to assume the role of global leadership,” Abou Diab ­noted.

During a briefing with foreign journalists to discuss Mr Xi's participation in the 2017 World Economic Forum, Zhang Jun, the director general of the department of international economic affairs at the Chinese foreign ministry, said: “China does not want world leadership, but could be forced to assume that role if others step back from that position.

“Under its current president, China has stepped up the pace to compete with the United States for the global economic position in parallel with its growing military force and political role that extend from the China Seas and Korean Peninsula all the way to Africa and the new Silk Road,” Abou Khattar wrote.

The writer examined Beijing’s efforts to demonstrate its strength. “It is bragging that China is the second-largest economy in the world and that other countries can rely on it in their economic growth.”

But, he continued, China’s optimistic turnaround remains fraught with risk as there is no guarantee of success in a world where interests are shifting and where Mr Trump’s proposed wall with Mexico not only represents a barrier to immigrants, but also to China’s economic expansion.

However, considering the extent to which the American and Chinese economies are intertwined and the acclaim with which Wall Street has received Mr Trump’s policies, the writer said that only time can reveal the repercussions of such a test of power on China’s internal market and on the yuan.

“We also cannot ignore China’s weaknesses – namely the ageing population and the rural-to-urban migration,” Abou Diab added.

“These are likely to affect the country’s economic balance, not to mention the need for raw materials and oil that will pose further challenges and the growing demands of Tibetans, Uighurs and other minorities.

“It remains to be seen whether the Chinese president is right to boast about his triple power equation that combines a strong military force, an almost absolute personal authority and a prosperous economy.”

According to Arabic-language commentator Hazem Saghieh, the Chinese president’s speech in Davos was obviously intended as a response to the new American leader. The latter had time and again expressed his keenness to apply a protectionist policy, strengthen border security and build walls between countries.

“China, in particular, is most concerned about the trade war Mr Trump is threatening to wage, knowing that the One-­China policy and the South ­China Sea contention increase the likelihood of this war,” Saghieh wrote in Aletihad, the Arabic-language sister publication of The National.

Mr Trump had abandoned the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Deal, which would have been responsible for 40 per cent of global trade and would have seen the establishment of an open market akin to the European common market, only bigger.

“With this move, the United States seemed to be really stepping back from its global economic leadership role, giving way to the runner-up,” Saghieh argued.

However, the writer did not see in China the capability to lead the world as the US has been doing since the end of the Second World War.

“The huge Chinese economy and the high growth rates do not offer sufficient reassurance, coupled as they are with a one-party system and legislation that acts as the regulator of the economic activity,” he said.

Add to the above the fact that China – just like Russia – lacks the other components of global leadership, such as the ability to export culture, education, art and technology that are worthy of a leadership, not to talk about the limited spread of the Chinese language worldwide.

The writer concluded that, for the first time in decades, the world might be facing a leadership void with potentially disastrous consequences.

* Jennifer Attieh