January 3, 2017

"By general consensus, 2016 was an erratic and unpredictable year in international affairs. Unexpectedly, the UK voted to leave the EU and the US elected a celebrity businessman, Donald Trump, as president. There was a tendency in Europe, probably exacerbated by social media, for swings in public opinion toward the political right.

The world is also facing ongoing crises such as the civil war in Syria, resulting in waves of refugees entering Turkey and Greece. In addition, and probably more importantly for the future of global affairs, there is a continuing general wobbliness in the global economy and an urgent need for concrete action on environmental issues.

Thus, China is presented with some potentially thorny diplomatic issues to solve. The foremost among these, of course, is the Trump conundrum: how to react to the incoming US president."

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http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1026860.shtml

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