In 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a keynote speech at the Winter Davos meeting advocating globalization. 

"In the face of both opportunities and challenges of economic globalization, the right thing to do is to seize every opportunity, jointly meet challenges and chart the right course for economic globalization."

He asked the world to have the courage to work together. 

Two years later, those attending Davos 2020 are still talking about many of the issues he addressed in his speech: the environment, international frameworks, inequality, and sustainability. 

However, other than the EU and China, few have actually embraced these ideas with actions. Over the past two years, the EU has taken climate control actions and tried to maintain the international framework, despite Brexit and other internal divisions. 

China has also been promoting the international framework, along with international development efforts like the Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. It has also adopted various measures and policies to open its doors, reducing its list of restricted industries, ownership requirements, tariffs, taxes, differentiated treatment of foreign enterprises and red tape, while strengthening its courts, IP protection, environmental enforcement and poverty reduction. 

China's reward has been steady increases in foreign direct investment. 

The only major obstacle over this period for the world has been the intransigence of the United States on the environment and the global framework, symbolized by the WTO, trade, security and ideology. 

U.S. President Donald Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" has bewildered and alienated neighbors, allies and competitors. 

In strong contrast to President Xi's 2017 speech, the U.S. president talked less about working together and more about how the richest and most powerful political, economic and military country in the world had been consistently victimized. 

The world economy is facing challenging headwinds due to protectionism and unilateralism pursued by the U.S. Moreover, U.S. unilateralism has dimmed the chances of attaining regional stability and finding solutions to the issue of climate change as it withdraws from more multiparty agreements.

The theme of the 2020 Davos meeting was "Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World."

As people ponder what Davos is and can be, they should think carefully about what China is advocating and look at what is possible when there is a shared, as opposed to a unilateral, vision for the world. 

Einar Tangen is a political and economic affairs commentator, author and columnist.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.

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