Davos: a changing of the guard?
Since Donald Trump’s election on the back of a ‘US First’ principle, Xi Jinping is seeking to position China as the champion of global free trade, writes Arno Lawrenz
In setting the theme of this year’s Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) as responsive and responsible leadership, Klaus Schwab, executive chairperson of the WEF said, "The coming year will be a critical test for all stakeholders in the global society. More than ever, we will need responsive and responsible leadership to address our collective challenges, and to restore people’s trust in institutions and in one another. That duty begins with our leaders, who must begin to engage in open dialogue and a common search for solutions to the five major challenges on the horizon. If they acknowledge that ours is a global community with a shared destiny, they will have made a first — albeit modest — step in the right direction." With that clarion call to a shared and collective leadership narrative in mind, we find it disconcerting that the leader of the US, the world’s largest economy opted to skip Davos altogether. However Xi Jinping, leader of China, attended. It was the first time that a Ch...
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