The world today is no longer simply divided between friends and foes or East and West. It is instead divided into different ideas of order. On one side, the vision of global politics is transactional, deal-driven, personality-centric, and somewhat impatient with institutions. The other side has broad narratives promising stability through continuity, sovereignty, and long-term cooperation based on mutual trust. This contrast of ideas between President Donald Trump’s deal-making approach to international order and President Xi Jinping’s concept of a global community with a shared future isn’t a clash of ideologies but more like a contest over how international order itself should be.

This contrast tends to explain the contemporary puzzle in international relations of why many traditional allies of the United States, particularly the Europeans, are exploring opportunities of diplomatic engagement with China while being reluctant towards Trump-led initiatives such as the Board of Peace. This does not imply that these states are defecting from alliances or embracing a new hegemon. Instead, they are navigating a system of global disorder, where predictability is a valuable power.

The core problem with this shift is not the American capabilities but........

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