Abishur Prakash is co-founder and geopolitical futurist at Toronto-based advisory firm Center for Innovating the Future and author of "The World Is Vertical: How Technology Is Remaking Globalization."
Beijing is keen to assert leadership but nations now have many choices

Chinese diplomat Wang Yi shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb. 22: Accepting Chinese leadership implies a willingness to peg a nation's future to Chinese ideas. © Sputnik/Reuters
Abishur Prakash is co-founder and geopolitical futurist at Toronto-based advisory firm Center for Innovating the Future and author of "The World Is Vertical: How Technology Is Remaking Globalization."