“The old world is gone, clearly. But what is the new world? We don’t know yet,” said Zhu Min, a well-respected Chinese economist and former deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund. Zhu made the comment when asked about his impressions of the World Economic Forum, held last week in Davos, Switzerland.
This year, U.S. President Donald Trump took center stage at Davos, promoting his “America First” agenda across a range of issues: from natural resources (and why, for example, Venezuela and Greenland matter to American interests), to world peace, as he launched the “Board of Peace.” Elon Musk half-mocked it as the “Board of Piece,” implying Trump’s ambition to take over the world “piece by piece.”
In comparison, China didn’t send its leader Xi Jinping, but rather Vice Premier He Lifeng, long known as a key figure on U.S.-China relations. He used his Davos speech to push China’s economic agenda, saying Beijing would continue to welcome foreign investments. At least on paper, He made China sound more like a defender of free trade and multilateralism — even warning that the world cannot revert to the “law of the jungle.”
If He’s speech wasn’t convincing enough about who can still attract global attention and capital, the closed-door luncheon Beijing organized at Davos offered further proof. The guest list included Apple CEO Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, FedEx CEO and president Raj Subramaniam, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, among others. I understand that at least half a dozen more American CEOs tried to secure seats at the lunch but failed to get an invite. He’s lunch quickly became known as the private event that was “most difficult to get into” at Davos.
After listening to these two very different visions of the “new world order” laid out by the United States and China, many Davos attendees left with more questions than answers, much like Zhu, who pondered: What is the new world?
To Trump, the “new world” is very much about G2 rather than G20. At Davos, Trump affirmed that he will visit Beijing in April — a trip Trump appears keen to promote — while China’s foreign ministry responded almost immediately that nothing has been confirmed. We anticipate Trump will likely showcase more of his “businessman” side during his China trip, pushing for more deals, such as Beijing buying more soybeans, Boeing planes, and perhaps more chips like Nvidia’s H200, especially since Trump feels he did Xi a favor by lifting certain export restrictions on advanced chips to China.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was also in Davos and met with He, his Chinese counterpart. The meeting helped keep bilateral relations on track ahead of Trump’s planned April visit to China. Another round of negotiations is likely in the coming months to set the leaders’ agenda on “non-sensitive” issues before April.
All of this — the speeches, the signalling, and even the careful choreography around Trump’s potential visit — leads me to conclude that, at least for now, our “new world” is increasingly transactional in nature. This shift fits neatly into Trump’s “America First” blueprint, and may not be bad news for China either, as Xi has proven to be a very pragmatic leader on many global issues.
Few places illustrate the shift toward a more transactional era than Hong Kong. When Hong Kong enacted its controversial National Security Law in 2020 following the massive protests in 2019, some investors and analysts quickly concluded Hong Kong’s days of serving as the world’s global financial hub were over. Fast forward to Davos last week, the “Hong Kong pavilion” led by Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan was fully packed. Notable luncheon guests included Australia’s outgoing Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, according to official Hong Kong government photo releases.
Contacts who attended the Hong Kong luncheon noted many senior bankers and asset managers were in attendance — some even tried to get their selfies with Chan. Hong Kong had a strong performance in 2025: it regained its position as the world’s largest IPO market and is on track to surpass Switzerland to be the world’s top wealth hub in terms of total asset under management. Civil liberties in Hong Kong is a very different story, but the “new world” seems to prize financial power in an increasingly transactional global environment. In that sense, Hong Kong may offer an example of what “new world” could look like.
I remember when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, a comic in the South China Morning Post ran with the caption: “Let’s shut up and make money.” Although I am not trying to teach Zhu what the “new world” will look like, I can’t help thinking about that comic — and what it implied about Hong Kong’s future.
Maybe we already know what the “new world” will be like, but few of us want to take the reality check yet.
George Chen is a partner at The Asia Group. He also served as a former managing editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.
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Front Row with George Chen: Davos Declared the Death of “Old World,” But Here is a Glimpse of the “New World”
“The old world is gone, clearly. But what is the new world? We don’t know yet,” said Zhu Min, a well-respected Chinese economist and former deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund. Zhu made the comment when asked about his impressions of the World Economic Forum, held last week in Davos, Switzerland.
This year, U.S. President Donald Trump took center stage at Davos, promoting his “America First” agenda across a range of issues: from natural resources (and why, for example, Venezuela and Greenland matter to American interests), to world peace, as he launched the “Board of Peace.” Elon Musk half-mocked it as the “Board of Piece,” implying Trump’s ambition to take over the world “piece by piece.”
In comparison, China didn’t send its leader Xi Jinping, but rather Vice Premier He Lifeng, long known as a key figure on U.S.-China relations. He used his Davos speech to push China’s economic agenda, saying Beijing would continue to welcome foreign investments. At least on paper, He made China sound more like a defender of free trade and multilateralism — even warning that the world cannot revert to the “law of the jungle.”
If He’s speech wasn’t convincing enough about who can still attract global attention and capital, the closed-door luncheon Beijing organized at Davos offered further proof. The guest list included Apple CEO Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, FedEx CEO and president Raj Subramaniam, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, among others. I understand that at least half a dozen more American CEOs tried to secure seats at the lunch but failed to get an invite. He’s lunch quickly became known as the private event that was “most difficult to get into” at Davos.
After listening to these two very different visions of the “new world order” laid out by the United States and China, many Davos attendees left with more questions than answers, much like Zhu, who pondered: What is the new world?
To Trump, the “new world” is very much about G2 rather than G20. At Davos, Trump affirmed that he will visit Beijing in April — a trip Trump appears keen to promote — while China’s foreign ministry responded almost immediately that nothing has been confirmed. We anticipate Trump will likely showcase more of his “businessman” side during his China trip, pushing for more deals, such as Beijing buying more soybeans, Boeing planes, and perhaps more chips like Nvidia’s H200, especially since Trump feels he did Xi a favor by lifting certain export restrictions on advanced chips to China.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was also in Davos and met with He, his Chinese counterpart. The meeting helped keep bilateral relations on track ahead of Trump’s planned April visit to China. Another round of negotiations is likely in the coming months to set the leaders’ agenda on “non-sensitive” issues before April.
All of this — the speeches, the signalling, and even the careful choreography around Trump’s potential visit — leads me to conclude that, at least for now, our “new world” is increasingly transactional in nature. This shift fits neatly into Trump’s “America First” blueprint, and may not be bad news for China either, as Xi has proven to be a very pragmatic leader on many global issues.
Few places illustrate the shift toward a more transactional era than Hong Kong. When Hong Kong enacted its controversial National Security Law in 2020 following the massive protests in 2019, some investors and analysts quickly concluded Hong Kong’s days of serving as the world’s global financial hub were over. Fast forward to Davos last week, the “Hong Kong pavilion” led by Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan was fully packed. Notable luncheon guests included Australia’s outgoing Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, according to official Hong Kong government photo releases.
Contacts who attended the Hong Kong luncheon noted many senior bankers and asset managers were in attendance — some even tried to get their selfies with Chan. Hong Kong had a strong performance in 2025: it regained its position as the world’s largest IPO market and is on track to surpass Switzerland to be the world’s top wealth hub in terms of total asset under management. Civil liberties in Hong Kong is a very different story, but the “new world” seems to prize financial power in an increasingly transactional global environment. In that sense, Hong Kong may offer an example of what “new world” could look like.
I remember when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, a comic in the South China Morning Post ran with the caption: “Let’s shut up and make money.” Although I am not trying to teach Zhu what the “new world” will look like, I can’t help thinking about that comic — and what it implied about Hong Kong’s future.
Maybe we already know what the “new world” will be like, but few of us want to take the reality check yet.
George Chen is a partner at The Asia Group. He also served as a former managing editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.
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