President Xi Jinping leads a Chinese delegation of over 100 officials and scores of business executives attending the World Economic Forum, embodying a tectonic shift at an event that started nearly a half-century ago among Europeans and Americans. Xi\u2019s opening plenary address Tuesday to political and business leaders is shaping up as perhaps the highlight both of this year\u2019s WEF and Xi\u2019s one-country European visit to ultra-stable and chronically neutral Switzerland. It comes as mainstream Western democratic leaders have been grappling with populist movements at home, including the one that helped undergird Donald Trump\u2019s U. S. presidential election victory. Trump\u2019s clique plans to have only one top adviser, Anthony Scaramucci, attending the forum ahead of Friday\u2019s presidential inauguration. Such transitions have given an opening for Xi, who arrived by train in the Alpine snows of Davos to a red carpet welcome Monday, to project political stability while drumming up business for China. The bumpy run-up to the Trump administration \u2014 Trump\u2019s poll numbers are low for an incoming president \u2014 has given the Chinese leader a convenient opportunity to advance his goal of giving his country a more assertive leadership role on the world stage. China previously sought to capture the mantle as a supporter of world trade after Trump said he would pull the United States out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal championed by President Barack Obama. Chinese media have trumpeted Xi\u2019s moves in the global arena as a force for stability. But analysts say he isn\u2019t likely to address Trump straight on. \u201cPeople will be asking, \u2018Will he say anything about Trump?’\u201d Steve Tsang, director of SOAS China Institute in London, said. \u201cHe would want to play his cards close to his chest at this stage. It would not make sense for him to say anything about Trump at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n