With many commentators eulogizing the liberal international order that had hitherto underpinned US hegemony, some are wondering if President Donald Trump has given his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a gift. While Trump prizes unpredictability, Xi aims to position China as a force for global stability. Thus, there is a widespread assumption that China will rush to fill the vacuum left by an increasingly nationalist and isolationist United States.
But the Chinese leadership has no interest in filling Americas shoes. Attempting to do so could cost China dearly just when it is undertaking a broader economic reorientation at home. The world may be tired of US interventionism and, now, of Trumpian aggression but that does not mean it is ready to welcome an abstemious superpower. China has studiously avoided becoming involved in major crises beyond its immediate neighborhood. Though it has proposed global initiatives on development, security, and civilization, and articulated a vision of multipolarity in which all countries are treated equally, its efforts to realize these goals have not gone beyond economic statecraft.
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The project “European Hub for Contemporary China (EuroHub4Sino)” has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101131737.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.