China's President Xi asserts global leadership in Davos meeting of the elites
The key article (in my view) coming out of the Davos so far this year is the following (also attached):
"There was something upside-down about Davos on Tuesday. China's Communist Party leader Xi Jinping became the chief defender of globalisation at one of the most capitalist gatherings in the world while the next President of the United States shunned the event."
"Faced with the unpredictability of a Trump administration, the world is looking for leaders and in an hour-long address, during which he seamlessly flowed from Charles Dickens to a few well-chosen Chinese proverbs, Xi made his case. China's poor human rights track record was put to one side, as Xi trumpeted the benefits of free trade and investment and called for a united front to combat climate change. While the focus was tellingly on "economic" globalisation, allowing for differences in the Chinese government's approach to free speech, censorship, treatment of dissidents and the rule of law, he showed the country was ready to make a bigger contribution to the global order."
