Xi Jinping stepped onto the World Economic Forum podium at Davos, Switzerland, that beacon of Western capitalism, and held the banner high for values once championed by the democratic world. He advocated the ripping down of barriers and the boosting of international trade. He flew the flag for globalization, carrying the very same argument that two centuries earlier had brought British gunboats to Chinese ports demanding the right to buy and sell merchandise on Britain’s terms and under its rules.
