The actions of Donald Trump's administration have brought bonuses to China. Chinese leader Xi Jinping could hardly have chosen a more opportune moment to showcase military power and potential for gaining global influence than the security summit in China, which will be attended by Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, writes The New York Times.
For Modi, US tariffs on Indian goods raised doubts about relying too heavily on Washington. For Vladimir Putin, the reception in Alaska given to him by Trump weakened the West's efforts to punish him for the invasion of Ukraine. At the center of events is Xi, who turns America's alienation from India into an opportunity and strengthens his long-standing ties with Putin.
The summit of more than 20 leaders, mostly from Central Asia, and a military parade in Beijing showcasing the latest Chinese missiles and military aircraft, demonstrates how China is trying to change the global order, which has so far been dominated by the United States.
On Wednesday, Xi will oversee a military parade in Beijing in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, presenting this conflict as a triumph under the leadership of the Communist Party. In his speeches, he seeks to reinterpret World War II as a struggle where the decisive theaters of battle were China and the Soviet Union, writes NYT. Chinese officials also claim that Western allies ignored agreements made during and after the war that could have supported China's territorial claims on Taiwan. China and Russia offer an alternative history preferred over the Western narrative of the Allies' victory.
The introduction of 50-percent tariffs by the Trump administration on Indian goods has eased tensions between China and India, its largest.
However, as the publication claims, contradictions appeared earlier, against the backdrop of India's rejection of Trump's nomination for the Nobel Prize. During a phone call with Modi on June 17, Trump once again stated that he had "resolved" the military conflict between India and Pakistan and recalled that Pakistan intended to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. According to NYT sources, "the not very subtle hint was that Modi should have done the same."
As stated in the publication, this outraged the Indian prime minister. He responded to Trump that "the US has nothing to do" with the ceasefire, which was directly settled by India and Pakistan.
Now Modi, who during Biden's presidency has drawn closer to the United States to counter Beijing, will visit China for the first time in seven years.
"Despite their concerns about China's behavior, some of these countries increasingly view the United States as a greater, if not the main, destabilizing force in the international order," quotes NYT Ali Wyne, an expert on US-China relations at the International Crisis Group.
Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko