Some observers have said that a leaderless and divided world will be the new normal, especially given the United States' lack of interest in assuming global leadership.
Second, while China is becoming more powerful, it is still state capitalist and authoritarian in orientation, and the international architecture that it is building stands in competition with the US. He recounted the arc of history, from the 1648 Peace of Westphalia - treaties which ended a 30-year European war - to the two world wars, where great powers formed coalitions with lesser powers. Even in the 1990s when the US"was the only show in town", he said, China's rise was already beginning.
Rather, she said, it has joined the international institutions that the US helped create, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organisation, and competed within these institutions for influence."Therefore we are getting an increasingly complex leadership, but it is a leadership. It shows a willingness by China to - on the US' own terms - help fashion and push for change in the rules that govern those institutions.
Reiterating Mr Bremmer's point about the lack of political willingness, he said that neither the US nor China is willing to assume leadership. China's model of governance - socialism with Chinese characteristics - is premised on leadership by the Chinese Communist Party, Prof Yan explained. Because it is so specific to China, it cannot provide this leadership to any other country.