Reference News Network, March 11 report: On March 9, the Singapore-based "China Times" website published an article titled "The Rise of the Era of Chaos in International Order under Trump's Administration," authored by Wang Jiangyu, Professor at the Faculty of Law of Hong Kong City University and Director of the Center for Chinese Law and Comparative Law. The full text is as follows:
The foreign policy style of President Trump during his second term has been more erratic and aggressive than in his first term, including imposing global taxes, forcefully controlling the Venezuelan president, enforcing the "Monroe Doctrine" on South America, and launching large-scale airstrikes against Iran without declaring war. This approach has torn off the last bit of warmth in modern international relations with a crude and straightforward manner, pushing the world into a new "Warring States" era without the protection of rules.
The most shocking and confusing feature of Trump's foreign strategy for traditional political elites is his willingness to act without hesitation and completely abandon the formalities of traditional great power diplomacy. In the eyes of traditional establishment figures, major diplomatic decisions or sanctions must undergo lengthy arguments from think tanks, careful consideration across departments, consultations with allies, and even careful considerations of moral high ground and legal legitimacy under international law. However, Trump's decision-making logic is strongly unilateral and self-centered, with a very simple principle: if, in a static assessment of bilateral relations, he estimates that his hard power far exceeds that of the other party, he will launch a sudden attack without hesitation.
This "asymmetric extreme pressure" is essentially a strategy of maximizing the instrumentalization of national hard power. If it wins, the United States can force the opponent to sign a treaty under duress by leveraging structural advantages, which is highly profitable; if it fails or encounters unexpected rebounds and counterattacks, it can quickly retreat without any psychological burden to minimize losses, without being constrained by so-called "great power dignity" or "policy consistency." However, this unpredictable, power-centric approach, although yielding considerable tactical benefits in the short term, has completely undermined the foundation of mutual trust among great powers at the strategic level.
The rise of Trumpism is not merely an expression of a leader's personality; it marks the strong emergence of a style of conduct that disregards all restraint, follows the law of the jungle, and signifies the complete return of the law of the jungle, as well as the burial of the liberal international order established after World War II, in which great powers still "maintained some dignity."
Undoubtedly, the liberal international order that ran for half a century had its core as a unipolar American hegemonic system. However, this hegemony was built on a multilateral mechanism, the framework of international law, and the Bretton Woods system—a "institutional hegemony." In that era, countries within the system generally respected or even feared American power, but the United States, as the creator and leader of the system, was willing to bear certain "imperial maintenance costs." It provided public goods—rules of free trade, guarantees of global navigation freedom, and multilateral dispute resolution mechanisms—to gain compliance from other countries. Within the system framework, even the hegemonic country was somewhat constrained by multilateral rules; small and medium-sized countries, although in a weak position, could at least obtain breathing space and development opportunities based on the rules, and great power rivalry was wrapped in a "universal value" of civilization. This order was certainly not perfect and had hypocrisy, but it gave the world relatively predictable stability.
Now, the Trump administration clearly believes that this "providing public goods to maintain order" model has made the US suffer losses. Its "America First" policy defines the US as a pure profit maximizer, effectively abandoning the institutional responsibilities of hegemony, directly transforming structural advantages into tools of exploitation and naked extortion. When the world's largest rule-maker upturns the negotiation table and places domestic law above international law, the cornerstone of the liberal international order has already collapsed.
This style of bullying the weak and acting recklessly has indeed benefited the US in the short term. We have seen many small and medium-sized countries trembling in the complex geopolitical storms. Due to deep fear of American financial hegemony, trade sanctions, and military threats, they are afraid of offending Washington even in minor policy details, thus trying their best to please and flatter the US in foreign and economic policies.
The chaos caused by the US's bullying and failure to maintain order will produce terrible contagious effects. In confrontational situations or multi-party relationships, if one party's comprehensive strength (military, economic, or resource) is stronger than the other, it can imitate the US's logic and recklessly bully and plunder the other party. Because they know that the world no longer has an authoritative figure capable of upholding justice and maintaining global order. The effectiveness of international law and multilateral mechanisms has dropped to a freezing point.
The pendulum of history is clearly swinging back from "a rules-based order" to "a jungle based on power." Small and medium-sized countries must recognize a basic reality: there is no longer a free umbrella of protection, nor eternal rules. Only through self-reliance, building good relationships, and adapting to circumstances can they find a glimmer of hope in the chaos.
As for the United States, Trump's reshaping of the world with "might makes right" may bring short-term profits, but the long-term cost may be isolation, backlash, and global turmoil.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7615904889096438291/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.