China Has a New Vision for Itself: Global Power

Long reluctant to inject itself into conflicts far from its shores, Beijing is showing a new assertiveness as Xi Jinping begins his third term as the country’s head of state, positioning China to draw like-minded countries to its side and to have a greater say on global matters. In Xinjiang, the far western region of China where the U.S. and its allies have accused Mr. Xi of carrying out forms of genocide against Muslim minorities, China’s vigorous diplomatic efforts have resulted in virtual silence from Muslim-majority countries—including from Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two rivals that China brought together in secret meetings in Beijing this month. In the three years that Mr. Xi’s strict zero-Covid policy effectively sealed his country off from the outside world, Mr. Biden’s efforts to rally a global coalition of wealthy Western-aligned countries have in many ways created a far more daunting international environment for China. But a post-Covid China can now look out around and find a ring of countries, including South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia and India, that are far more suspicious of China’s intentions and more inclined to align themselves with Washington—a development Mr. Xi attributes to Mr. Biden’s efforts at “containment, encirclement and suppression," a charge that Washington denies. Like the U.S., China has found that its growing overseas footprint, particularly in countries such as Pakistan, can get it bogged down in security concerns and complaints it is acting as an imperialist power, precisely the charge Beijing has leveled against the U.S. Entanglements in overseas conflicts could sap China’s dynamism, and if its peace deals fall apart, it could set back Beijing’s objectives by making the country look naive or impotent, undermining confidence in China among the countries that it is trying to win to its side.