THERE wasn’t as much fanfare as six years ago when the world marked the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day on November 11.

However, it is important that the significance of the occasion is kept at the forefront of people’s minds because it reinforces the courage and sacrifice of those who established the agreement to end World War I, which claimed the lives of well over 20 million people and left another 23 million injured.

The massive displacement of people and destruction of homes, cities, towns, and vital infrastructure during four years of fighting was horrifying. Students of history will recall that the armistice was signed in the early hours of November 11, 1918. It declared the “cessation of hostilities by land and in the air six hours after the signing”. Terms of the agreement included immediate German withdrawal from the territories they had acquired during the conflict, and the disarmament and demobilisation of the German military.

Six years ago, as the Western world marked Armistice Day — renamed Remembrance Day in Commonwealth Countries and Veterans Day in the United States — we reflected in this space on two very potent quotes.

The first, “May you live in interesting times” is attributed to the Chinese and is globally used, but not in the sense in which it was originally meant, since it was said to be a curse suggesting chaos and conflict.

The second is by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who captured the spirit of the Chinese curse, saying: “World history is not the ground of happiness. The periods of happiness are empty pages …”

Certainly today we can say without reservation that we are living in even more interesting times as the world continues to be gripped by conflicts and uncertainties.

In fact, those uncertainties increased over the past two weeks as the re-election of Mr Donald Trump to the US presidency has triggered fear among internationalists that he will deconstruct the liberal order that the US and its allies have built and defended since World War II.

Just yesterday, US President Mr Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Mr Xi Jinping were scheduled to hold their last meeting, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, after both leaders warned of turbulent times ahead.

The Chinese president, in a written speech to the summit, raised concerns about “spreading unilateralism and protectionism”, while President Biden said the world had “reached a moment of significant political change”.

Their concerns are legitimate, given that Mr Trump’s re-election has already cast a cloud of uncertainty over efforts — launched at a historic meeting between presidents Xi and Biden a year ago — to ease tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Both men have reason to be concerned because Mr Trump has signalled a confrontational approach to Beijing, threatening to impose tariffs of up to 60 per cent on imports of Chinese goods to even out what he said is a trade imbalance.

Additionally, North Atlantic Treaty Organization members are worried that Mr Trump could end a decades-long commitment to securing peace in Europe.

In these circumstances we hope that the differences between old friends will be appropriately resolved over time to avoid the kind of conflicts that plunged the world into World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45).