Re-entry to world stage
FRESH from securing a historic third term as China’s top leader, President Xi Jinping is poised for a triumphant re-entry to the world stage at a pivotal G20 summit this week.
After almost three years of selfimposed pandemic isolation where international diplomacy was largely conducted by video link, China now aims to shore up its global alliances – especially with developing countries – in the face of increased competition with the US and a world environment destabilised by the Ukraine war.
A flurry of state visits to China in the past weeks have highlighted the importance of maintaining trade and diplomatic ties – even as China acts more assertively to defend its interests.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defied fierce domestic criticism to visit Beijing on November 4 with a business delegation in tow, vowing to deepen trade co-operation with China alongside raising the Ukraine war.
His visit capped trips by the leaders of Pakistan, Tanzania and the Vietnamese Communist Party – the most numerous face-to-face meetings Xi has conducted since hosting more than a dozen world leaders at the Beijing Olympics in February. France’s foreign minister last week said President Emmanuel Macron was likely to visit China in the coming months.
Xi will join world leaders including US President Joe Biden, top EU official Ursula von der Leyen and leaders of Australia, India, Japan and Britain at the G20. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the summit, where his country’s invasion of Ukraine will a main talking point.
“I expect Xi Jinping to arrive at the G20 exuding confidence from his refreshed mandate from the Communist Party of China,” said Drew Thompson, a visiting senior fellow at the National University of Singapore.
Biden said yesterday in Phnom Penh, where he is meeting East Asian leaders, that the Democrats’ midterm election successes sent him into crunch talks with Xi in a stronger position.
Biden on Wednesday confirmed a meeting with Xi, saying that he would gauge Xi’s “red lines” to reduce the potential for conflict after soaring tensions over Taiwan.
Experts are not expecting any breakthroughs in resolving long-term differences, however.
“The political differences between the US and China are deep-seated. A meeting on the margins of a multilateral meeting (is) not the venue to resolve such strategic differences,” said Thompson.
“There is benefit to the engagement, such as better understanding what each side expects from the other, which can hopefully reduce misunderstanding and prevent miscalculation.”
The Biden-Xi meeting is perhaps the most consequential encounter of a six-day foreign trip that will circumnavigate the globe, and it comes at the fulcrum of his presidency, The Washington Post reported.
The US president departs just after voters delivered a verdict on the first two years of his tenure, giving him better-than-expected results but possibly costing Democrats control of at least one chamber of Congress.
It also comes as the Pentagon issues fresh warnings that China poses the “most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security”. |