As tensions with the US rise, China continues to reach out to the rest of the world

 

The top priority for China today is the fate of its relations with the United States, but the Chinese leadership is nonetheless determined to build extensive commercial, military, strategic, and cultural ties with the wider world.

Last week, President Xi Jinping launched the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilisations – an event attended by the leaders of Asian and European nations, with the participation of think tanks from Asia, Europe, and Africa, in recognition of these continents’ important role in his flagship Belt and Road initiative.

The word “respect” came up a lot in the discussions of the Chinese officials, reflecting a growing Chinese nationalism in the face of US President Donald Trump’s “America First” national security strategy.

Mr Trump has awoken this nationalism with his measures against China, which are part of a policy that enjoys broad support in the US. Mr Trump has also imposed punitive measures against Chinese tech companies that he claims are a threat to US national security.

However, realism and pragmatism have forced the Chinese leadership to continue to seek accord with the US leadership.

In the Middle East, China forged strong cultural and trade links with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, maintained strategic ties with Iran, pursued advanced relations with Israel, entrusted Syria to Russia, and launched projects in Jordan and Lebanon. It is also keeping a close watch on the Straits of Hormuz and Bab El Mandeb, which are key to its oil imports, and is expanding its presence in Africa.

Another important relationship for China is with Russia, the source of advanced arms imports. Russia is also a useful ally in the context of shared “hostility” to western ideology, not to mention the shared Communist background of the two powers. One important difference is that while the Soviet Union was the counter-pole to the US in the Cold War, today China is at pains to show that it is not another USSR.

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/as-tensions-with-the-us-rise-china-continues-to-reach-out-to-the-rest-of-the-world-1.866139