Chinese President Xi’s trip to Europe: ‘Charm offensive’ or canny bid to divide the West?

Fine brandy, a Tour de France jersey and old grudges against NATO: On his first European tour in five years, Chinese President Xi Jinping is engaging in a diplomatic dance that is seen by some as a concerted Chinese bid to stress-test the transatlantic alliance. And in Hungary, cementing a Chinese economic footprint within the European Union, Xi offered warm praise for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the illiberal leader who has been a thorn in the side of European allies in the more than two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That has been met with skepticism in Western quarters, but during Xi’s stop in France, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, made a point of praising China for playing “an important role in de-escalating Russia’s irresponsible nuclear threats” in connection with the fighting in Ukraine. With Macron at his side, the Chinese leader declared that his government was “not at the origin of this crisis, nor a party to it, nor a participant.” And he said the Ukraine war should not be used as a pretext to “cast blame, smear a third country and incite a new Cold War.” At the same time, Xi expressed broad support for peace, endorsing Macron’s call for an “Olympics truce” — a hiatus to hostilities in Ukraine and elsewhere during the Summer Games. Muzikarova, the Atlantic Council political economist, said intra-EU trade disagreements gave China an opportunity to “deploy its signature ‘divide and conquer’ strategy,” noting that EU member Hungary “has been especially useful to this end.” In Budapest, the last stop on Xi’s European tour, the Chinese finalized a number of agreements with Orban that will significantly deepen economic ties, even while the EU has taken a more protectionist stance.