TEHRAN – Professor Robert R. Bianchi, Professor of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), believes that China appeared the frontrunner to “assume the leadership of globalization” in the year 1395, the Persian calendar year falling between March 2016 and March 2017). 

Bianchi tells the Tehran Times that this is mostly because China “astutely exploits American and European retreats from free trade, environmental protection, and global governance.” 
Following is the text of the interview:

Q: We are closing the current Iranian year on March 20. What was the most important event in international relations during this time and why?
A: China’s masterful diplomatic campaign to assume the leadership of globalization, because it astutely exploits American and European retreats from free trade, environmental protection, and global governance. 

Q: What were the most important events in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and why?

Middle East

The coalescence of Russia, Iran, and Turkey behind plans to stabilize Syria and Iraq, because it consolidates the long-term erosion of American, Saudi, and Israeli dominance in the region. 

Europe  

Angela Merkel’s emergence as the central figure holding the continent together, because it illustrates the maturity of German economic and diplomatic power in the face of racist and repressive tendencies elsewhere.

Asia
 
The escalation of arms races across the Western Pacific, because it creates multiple flashpoints for regional wars that can be far more destructive than the comparatively isolated conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

America 

The psychodrama and mental meltdown of Donald Trump, because they have breathed new life into American democracy and galvanized citizens’ determination to defend liberty and open borders.