China didn’t grab many headlines at Davos, but it’s the elephant in the

BEIJING — While high-profile world leaders in Davos last week opined on U.S. claims to Greenland, China’s envoy reiterated calls for cooperation.

Businesses and analysts in China said the developments highlighted an opportunity for Beijing to expand its influence globally as tensions between the U.S. and its allies grow.

This year’s Davos is a “watershed” moment, said Hai Zhao, a director of international political studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-affiliated think tank.

He said countries are likely to shift toward regional trade, rather than a global economy centered on the U.S.

The world’s second-largest economy sent He Lifeng, one of its four vice premiers, to Davos, where he promoted business opportunities in China and called for the fair treatment of Chinese companies. In his speech Tuesday, He cited U.S.-China trade talks as an example of cooperation, with no specific discussion of other countries.

His remarks drew less attention than those of other world leaders at the forum. U.S. President Donald Trump made headlines by making personal jabs at foreign leaders and later softening his stance on Greenland.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined possible trade agreements, including a potentially “historic” deal with India.

Notably, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out “a rupture in the world order” in a brief speech that was lauded by many commentators as potentially historic.

But analysts in China said it was Beijing’s consistent messaging that would wield greater global sway.

U.S. tensions with Europe are good for China’s relationship with the bloc, said Wei Wang, a researcher at Tianjin University of Commerce.

He said the Greenland controversy could accelerate what he described as Western acceptance that competition with China is failing, while reinforcing the idea that global power is shifting eastward.

The Davos speeches indicate growing acceptance of fundamental global shifts, which many countries outside the U.S., European, and Japanese orbit have already known, said Peter Alexander, managing director at Shanghai-based Z-Ben Advisors.

“With each passing day, it becomes evident that so long as China dominates production, all other nations have little leverage or ability to act,” he said.

China’s share of global container shipments has climbed steadily, reaching 37% for the first three quarters of last year. Beijing was the first major economy to retaliate against Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs back in April, and has increasingly cast itself as a stabilizing force for the world.

The U.S. and China reached a fragile one-year truce in October, with Trump set to visit China in April. But tariffs remain elevated, while Washington continues to restrict China’s access to advanced technologies.

The U.S.-China rivalry is the culmination of decades…