Since US President Donald Trump took office, the United States is retreating from the global stage. But is the US ready for a multi-polar world? 

"They have realized that they can’t do it on their own, they can’t impose their will nowadays, and they can’t take unilateral actions in many regions around the world," said Professor Constantinos Filis from Panteion University, speaking at the Rhodes Forum.

"They need cooperation. I think that they have to come to the term with this new reality. Without this, meaning, the United States does not still be considered, at least to my point of view, a very strong power in global terms."

But while more people are starting to say that the American century is over, Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, disagrees slightly.

"The American century is over, I think it’s probably an exaggeration for the time being. The US is probably still the strongest power in the world. The American century is not just built on the basis of one election."

At the Davos World Economic Forum in early 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for boosting free trade as a solution to global economic sluggishness. So is Beijing going to play a greater global role as Washington turns inward? 

"There is a different understanding of leadership, Chinese perspective and the globalization perspective in terms of the United States of America. Chinese understanding of leadership does not imply domination. For example, the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese are investing there and constructing infrastructure. Infrastructure, this is not for profit. This is for development,” said Vladimir Yakunin, chairman of the Supervisory Board of DOC Research Institute.

Although there are doubts about China’s readiness for global leadership, Dominique de Villepin, former French Prime Minister said, "China is at a turning point. China up to today has been playing a two-track policy. On the one side, which is mainly economic and trade, on the other hand, because of necessity, China has to take more responsibility because of the problems in the world, so many problems and low leadership of the US. Barack Obama said ‘I want to leave it behind’, and the unpredictability of Donald Trump. The situation has made the necessity for China to take action and responsibility."