Xi reboots statesman image in push to counter US on world stage

BLOOMBERG

Chinese President Xi Jinping is rebooting his image as a global statesman — and he’s already got a significant win under his belt.
Hours after securing a third term as China’s president on March 10, Xi’s government hosted the signing of a landmark deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic ties. While details of Beijing’s involvement remain unclear, the agreement added credibility to Xi’s push to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine — a proposal roundly dismissed by the US and its allies as lacking substance.
Now Xi is expected to soon meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, hold his first-ever call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and possibly speak once again with President Joe Biden in a bid to put US-China ties on more stable footing.
The diplomatic blitz marks a reset for Xi, who last November ended years of isolation during the pandemic by meeting more than a dozen leaders of the world’s biggest economies at various summits in Southeast Asia. During his meeting with Biden on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Xi referred to himself as a “statesman” who should “think about and know how to get along with other countries and the wider world.”
Those efforts appeared to go off the rails after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was spotted over the US in January, prompting Biden to eventually shoot it down. Making matters worse, the US strengthened efforts to prevent Chinese companies from obtaining advanced technology and repeatedly warned that Beijing was weighing whether to supply weapons to Russia, undermining China’s efforts to portray itself as a neutral actor that could broker peace.
Just as Xi called out the US for seeking to contain and encircle China, the Saudi-Iran agreement changed the narrative around Beijing. Beyond helping Xi look like a peacemaker, it also undermined US efforts more broadly to lump China in with Russia and isolate it on the world stage.
“If the agreement reached by Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing can be successfully implemented, it will increase the international community’s expectations for China’s participation in solving world problems,” said Fan Hongda, professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University. “It will also enhance China’s own confidence.”
The US appeared caught off guard by the announcement, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby taking a shot at China even as he said the Biden administration would “welcome” a sustainable deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia “regardless of what the impetus was or who sat down at the table.”
“We certainly continue to watch China as they try to gain influence and footholds elsewhere around the world in their own selfish interests,” he said.