Is China now leading the free world?

"Pursuing protectionism is just like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so are light and air. No-one will emerge as a winner in a trade war". President Xi Jinping (January 2017).

The Chinese are coming. Colin Welland must have thought it would never come to this.

Xi's speech at Davos touched on a range of issues: the fact that there would be no winners from a trade war, the need for all countries to continue to support the 2015 Paris climate change accord and continued Chinese commitments to free trade.

It seems perverse, but is China now the leader of the 'free world'?