Xi Jinping looks abroad for confidence
The West’s wobbles have China feeling vindicated
When Xi Jinping looks out at the world, he seems to see history’s arc bending his way. As war in Ukraine slides towards a frozen stalemate, and intensifying horrors stalk the Middle East, Communist Party leaders sound confident that they know how to solve such crises, and that most of the world agrees with them. China puts its trust in interests coldly weighed and balanced, and in economic development. It declines to judge even the most blood-soaked tyrants and denies that universal values exist, calling them a ploy to stigmatise non-Western civilisations.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Xi Jinping seeks confidence abroad”
From the January 27th 2024 edition
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