Inside Story - Is China the Next Global Leader?

Who is the most powerful person in the world? Many would say US President Donald Trump. But the international news publication, The Economist, argues it is actually China's President Xi Jinping. While Trump talks protectionism, Xi is bidding for global leadership on multiple fronts. Among them - a grand infrastructure plan to link large parts of the world economy, an Asia-focused bank to counter the World Bank, China's first overseas military base and a military buildup in the South China Sea.

Analysts say Xi wants to be a transformative leader along the lines of Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong. He has eliminated rival power centres in an anti-corruption campaign, and has amassed more personal power than any recent predecessor.

So, what will the latest Communist party congress reveal about China's global aspirations as the US turns inward?

Presenter: James Bays | Guests: Einar Tangen - Political and Economic Affairs Analyst; Jabin Jacob - Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies; Isaac Stone Fish - Senior fellow at the Asia Society's Center on US- China Relations.

Global Leadership Vacuum: Europe Incapable, America Unwilling

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: US Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Germany this week in an effort to strengthen trans-Atlantic ties. Global politics have come to a standstill in recent years, with the United States unwilling to show leadership and Europe and other major powers unable to fill the vacuum.

Ernest Rutherford, the chemist and nuclear physicist, wanted to conduct massive experiments in his laboratories in Britain. He had won the 1908 Nobel Prize in chemistry and would go on to become one of the legends in his field. But he often simply didn't have the funds. Legend has it that he gathered together his team and said: "Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It's time to start thinking."

These words attributed to Rutherford have become world-famous -- also in the realm of politics. And they could hardly be more applicable than to United States Vice President Joe Biden's upcoming trip to Germany. On Friday afternoon, Biden will hold a powwow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. On Saturday, he is scheduled to deliver a speech at the annual Munich Security Conference.

The reason is clear: Biden might still speak eloquently in public about trans-Atlantic cooperation. But, behind closed doors, his main message will be that America and its allies need to come up with a new way of divvying up responsibilities in this uncertain world. The Exhausted Nation » | An Analysis By Gregor Peter Schmitz in Munich | Friday, February 01, 2013