Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) urged Chinese officials to create a “trustworthy, lovable and respectable” image for the country, in a sign that Beijing might be looking to smooth its hard-edged diplomatic approach.
Xi on Monday told senior Chinese Communist Party leaders that the country must “make friends extensively, unite the majority and continuously expand its circle of friends with those who understand and are friendly to China,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Beijing needed “a grip on tone” in its communication with the world, and should “be open and confident, but also modest and humble,” he said.
Photo: AFP
The remarks suggest that Xi might be rethinking his communication strategy on the global stage as US President Joe Biden works to bolster US relationships weakened under his predecessor’s “America First” policies.
Xi has cast aside the party’s decades-old “hide-and-bide” strategy of keeping a low international profile in favor of “big country diplomacy.”
China’s has increasingly hit back against perceived violations of its core interests by foreign countries with trade measures, travel bans and diplomatic protests — an approach sometimes criticized as “wolf warrior” diplomacy. That style has been blamed for diplomatic setbacks with partners that appeared open to closer ties with Beijing, such as the EU and the Philippines.
China’s more assertive diplomacy came in response to those in the West who cast the country as a threat, but that has failed to satisfy domestic and international audiences, Renmin University of China international relations professor Wang Yiwei (王義桅) said.
“China’s image in the West has deteriorated since the pandemic, and this needs to be taken seriously,” he said. “The growth in China’s power needs to be accepted by the world. That would be the real growth of power.”
It remains to be seen whether the push would have any impact on China’s policies in disputes with countries such as the US, Australia or the EU, all of which have seen ties deteriorate further in recent months.
Views of China turned sharply negative last year in 14 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center, data released in October last year showed.
China’s emphasis on the superiority of socialism has caused some concern in the West, Wang said, and the ridicule of other countries’ failure to contain COVID-19 was “a bit overdone.”
The discussion on international communication included a lecture by Zhang Weiwei (張維為) of Fudan University’s Chunqiu Institute, who is also a staunch and vocal advocate for how China’s governance model is superior to Western democracies.
Wang Wen (王文), executive dean of Renmin University’s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and an adviser to the government, said it was the first such session held by the 25-member politburo.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS