China’s diplomatic successes are broad but shallow
It asks little of its foreign ‘partners’, and gives little back
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THE last time President Xi Jinping left China was in late October. Since then, the world has come to him: a dozen heads of state have visited his country.
The foreign ministry’s protocol department has handled it flawlessly, setting up grand receptions for its visitors, lining up soldiers and schoolchildren to greet them and flying their national flags beside China’s on important boulevards.
The symbolism is not lost on anyone. A world adrift from its American anchor is looking to China. Even US President Donald Trump wants to work with it.
