No ‘new world order’

There is no "new world order," although there is certainly a new world disorder. The "rules-based international order" that was created after World War II, mainly under American leadership, had been fading away anyway as the West’s long economic dominance declined. The arrival of Donald Trump delivered the coup de grace, but nothing has taken its place. All the claptrap in the past week about the launch of a new "Asian century" founders on the hard, unyielding fact that there is no Asia except in the strictly geographical sense. There was a stage-managed coming-out party in Beijing for China’s new superpower status, with lots of Asian guests, but no actual deals were done. True, most Asian countries now have China as their largest foreign trade partner, but that is also true for most countries in Africa, South America and Australia. It’s just business, and it does not necessarily imply either loyalty or alliance. China’s only allies are Russia and North Korea, and neither of those alliances brings Beijing any real strategic benefit. The most that can be said in their favor is thaWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times