NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
BEIJING — The Globe and Mail
Published
China has no ambition to take over the mantle of leadership from the United States, its Foreign Minister says.
But Beijing is boldly positioning itself as mediator and problem-solver to the world’s most insoluble problems, abandoning the decades it spent protesting its lack of desire to intervene in the quagmires outside its gates.
Sensing weakness in the U.S.-led liberal democratic order, China is stepping forward with detailed plans to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula, bring wealth to Africa, create new pathways to peace in the Middle East and rekindle international trade. It has cast itself as an honest broker and reliable partner, with better ideas for achieving results than Washington.