What are America and China fighting about?
Resurrecting China through the revolving door of Taiwan’s president’s visit to the US and an invitation to form a global order not dictated by the US
The visit of Taiwan’s president to the United States, which resulted in Beijing holding live-fire drills off Taiwan’s coast, was just a ruse to get the US to recognize Taiwan as a part of China. The U.S. and China could go to war that would ruin the reputation of the two countries.
The new thing is related to the fact that so many goods and services that the United States andChina sell to one another are digital, which means they can be both, and also the role trust plays in international relations. Trust has become scarcer than before because it has become more important between the US and China. The trend is bad.
As world leaders return to Beijing despite international concerns over the growing China-Russia relationship and Beijing’s intimidation of Taiwan, Xi has used the opportunity to thread his conversations with veiled criticism of the US and keywords that signal Xi’s own view for how to reshape global power.
On Friday, that list grew to include Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is expected to sign a host of bilateral deals with Xi – and, like several of the leaders before him, arrives with hopes of making progress toward ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But for Xi, this revolving door of visiting leaders – making the trip even as China has refused to condemn the Russian invasion – is also an opportunity to assert his vision for a global order not dictated by American rules – and push back against perceived threats.
Xi has been under pressure to act for three years because of China’s strict Covid-19 controls, economic challenges, entrenched competition and rising European concerns about Beijing’s foreign policy.
Chinese leaders believe the time has now come for it to make strategic plans, said an associate professor of international relations at Singaporeans Nanyang Technological University.
He said that Europe should not be caught up in crises that don’t fall under the US’s jurisdiction and that it should be able to build its strategic autonomy on the strength of its cooperation with China.
Speaking to Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong late last month, Xi stressed that Asian countries together should “firmly oppose bullying, decoupling or severing industrial and supply chains,” while he urged Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to “resolutely resist the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation.”
The Chinese government stated that the EU needs to uphold its independence in order for the China-EU relationship to flourish.
Both China and France have a tradition of independence, but also a firm advocate for a multi-polar world, President Xi said when the French President visited Beijing last week.
After a day of meetings in Beijing, Xi met Macron in the southern commercial hub of Guangzhou to continue an “informal” conversation – sipping tea and listening to the plucked melodies of traditional Chinese music before a state dinner.
It appeared that the man who has long advocated for Europe to develop its own defense capabilities, appeared to be open to the idea.
Brasilian Foreign Minister Lula meets with the White House: navigating the bilateral relations in a world without a mirror: how Beijing handles the crisis
The leftist Brazilian leader, who ushered in a boom in China-Brazil trade ties during his first stint in power some two decades ago, is traveling with a delegation of business leaders, state governors, congressmen and ministers, and expected to close a raft of bilateral deals from agriculture and livestock to technology.
Brazil, in advance of Lula’s trip, has offered another view: creating – as the country’s foreign minister put it – “a group of mediator countries” including China.
“Xi will find in Lula a BRICS enthusiast, openness to reforms in the global governance system and the desire to avoid automatic alignment with the US,” said Luiza Duarte, a research fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies in Washington.
The Brazilian leader had a lengthy visit to the White House in February, and her analysis raises comparison with the welcome he is expected to receive in Beijing.
Beijing could use the lack of deliverables from that meeting to promote itself as an alternative to bilateral cooperation.
Some leaders – like Macron – have viewed Xi, a close friend and diplomatic partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as a potential ally that could help push Putin toward peace.
Their relationship has raised concern, with US officials warning that China could potentially provide the Kremlin with lethal aid.
While France and China agreed to several points related to the war in their meeting – including opposition to attacks on nuclear power plants and the protection of women and children – Macron did not ultimately push Xi to commit on paper to any position China has not already publicly said.
The bottom line is related to how Beijing navigates the initiatives, because of the global ambitions and world view of the leader.
Russia is the only power that shares many of the same views on how the world and global system should look and what issues should be dealt with. He said that Russia is not replaceable for China.
It was an example of another point on the diplomatic agenda when Xi traveled to Moscow in March for a state visit and the first since he stepped into a third presidential term.
And while China’s diplomacy – and deals – in the past week may not have been heavily impacted by the optics of that relationship, analysts say how Beijing handles the conflict will continue to affect views on China globally.
According to an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, the perception thatXi has influence over Putin has provided him with leverage that he would otherwise not have.
“Ultimately, the test will come down to whether Xi is actually able to exert any real influence on Putin, especially in terms of ceasing the war,” he said.
