The Guardian

May in China

The package of agreements after Theresa May’s three-day visit to China came in far short of previous visits. The relationship’s immense asymmetry has never been so stark. On one side, Xi Jinping, “chairman of everything”: the most powerful leader in decades of an increasingly mighty and self-confident nation. On the other, May, an enfeebled figure representing a nation weakened and isolated by its own folly. It was wise of Mrs May not to approach Beijing as a supplicant. But in the age of Brexit, we look less like a fellow diner at the table and more like the contents of the plate.