As US leadership becomes increasingly erratic, claims grow that the rules-based international order is breaking down. But China and India may yet help guide its transition rather than preside over its collapse.

In 2011, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard hailed the Asian Century, in particular, China’s capacity “to reshape global power and prosperity.”

‘Re-shaping’ has of late become an urgent existential matter. ‘Trump Disorder Syndrome’ (TDS) is now head-on challenging the existing rules-based international order. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney received widespread accolades for his Davos speech, suggesting what is now taking place must be treated as “rupture” rather than a “transition” and that the “old order”, which was always “part fiction”, is now “fading away”. Rejecting “going along, to get along”, Carney recommended building “what we claim to believe in, rather than waiting for the old order to be restored.”

It can, nonetheless, argued that even in the distressing context of debilitated American leadership, the existing order has a long history of development and is undergoing transition rather than rupture. It has proven capable of rejuvenation and remains the only credible alternative for dealing with today’s global multidimensional issues. Moreover, its successful transition may be supported by a pivot to Asia.

There is bad and good news. First, TDS has wreaked havoc as an unresolved gestating state of mind that broadcasts culture-war, manipulates strategic instability, and preaches absolute truth within the........

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