Photo: IC

Due to its power, the US has been a leader of the West, the world's police, and an engine prompting the world's economy, but it has also accumulated various problems, which it cannot carry anymore. 

It turns out that the US has been tired of playing the role of a leader. Since the "America First" policy became the guideline of the Trump administration, Washington has pulled from international treaties and upheld unilateralism as well as protectionism, exerting a huge impact on the current world order. 

The US is still the world's most powerful country that sows discords on the international stage. Still, the more it loses itself in the self-inflicted strategic rivalry against China and competition with Europe, the more reluctance it displays as a leader. Some Western scholars have raised the question: "Has America become the wrong kind of power with the wrong kind of priorities?" The US cannot even correctly handle domestic issues such as curbing the rampant spread of COVID-19 in the country. In no way can the US be an example for the world as it is facing the severest economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s while various domestic problems wait for solutions. 

The US is exhausted and is putting the entire world under risk. 

Currently, this can be the biggest crisis to the West, and also the most significant challenge the entire world is confronted with. What should we do in a world with no US leadership? The answer is simple in spelling but not that easy to carry out - cooperation. 

The rapid development of human society in the past decades, the deepening globalization, and the increasing interdependence and connection between countries have shown the importance of cooperation. The raging pandemic has also underscored cooperation - No country can defeat the virus all by itself, not even one as strong as the US. 

After optimizing the allocation of resources over decades, all countries have jointly formed a relatively mature supply chain, which has been promoting the world's development. Many have benefited and grown more robust and are playing a more prominent role in this mechanism. 

Cooperation can reinforce the current world order, and it is a guarantee for the supply chain to work smoothly. But what the US has been doing has wittingly or unwittingly shaken the foundation of such norm. The entire world will be affected as a result, and this is conducive to no one. 

The key to revitalizing the declining US lies in the country's will to promote global cooperation. Nonetheless, the US still wants to lure more to its anti-cooperation and anti-globalization campaign. Fortunately, however, more countries are becoming aware that such intention of the US is not in their favor.

In terms of global operations, the US is creating a loophole, which should be plugged in time. Otherwise, it would expand and trigger a butterfly effect that makes the world pay for the selfishness of the US.

Cooperation is the most effective solution to fix that loophole. But if the world cannot keep a sober head on this, there will probably be a more profound crisis waiting for humanity after the pandemic is gone.