Hong Kong, Feb. 24 -- With US President Donald Trump continuing to upset the global apple cart and clumsily stepping on the toes of erstwhile allies, China is reaping benefits and hefting its own influence.

As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January: "It seems that every day we're reminded that we live in an era of great-power rivalry - that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must."

The Canadian leader continued, "For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, and we benefited from its predictability. And beca...