President Xi Jinping has exercised the greatest influence on the world stage in 2013 with his visionary leadership

In October, the shutdown of the US federal government forced President Barack Obama to cancel a series of trips abroad. In his absence, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali, Chinese President Xi Jinping was de facto the most powerful man in the room, the US "pivot to Asia" ironically reduced to a mere rhetorical posture.

It is indeed Xi who most influenced the year 2013. On the global chessboard, the constant movement in China contrasted with the lack of leadership in the European Union and political paralysis in the United States. The West lost the advantage of the initiative; it simply reacted to China's new moves and rapid actions.