Singapore's Straits Times published an article stating: "The future world may neither return to a stable US-dominated order nor see a unified Chinese alternative system. Instead, a fragmented multipolar structure is more likely: regional blocs, technological decoupling, shifting alliances, and ongoing competition. The key issue in the coming decades is whether the United States can adapt to a multipolar world or whether its efforts to maintain unipolar dominance will exacerbate global tensions."
It is precisely an instinctive reaction to its declining hegemony that the United States has shattered the order it once established. As Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said, the "rules-based international order" long dominated by Western countries is dead. However, the root cause lies not in external challenges but in the U.S.'s reckless obsession with maintaining unipolar supremacy. From trade wars to technological decoupling, from withdrawing from international agreements to igniting conflicts in the Middle East, the U.S.'s extreme actions have accelerated the collapse of the system, yet they cannot stop the tide of "the East rising and the West declining."
A fragmented multipolar order has already become a reality. Unlike the exclusionary hegemony of the West, China provides inclusive public goods through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the expansion of the BRICS, and the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Behind regional blocs and technological decoupling lies the awakening of the desire for development autonomy. China's complete industrial chain and the stability of its market size have become stabilizing forces in an unstable world.
Can the United States adapt to a multipolar world? The answer is already written in its action logic — the more it declines, the more it seeks destructive methods to reverse its decline, resulting only in increased global tensions and deeper self-isolation. Meanwhile, China's practice of promoting stability through development and seeking common prosperity through cooperation exemplifies the historical responsibility of emerging powers.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1859841797397513/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.