China’s Diplomatic Strategy to Break U.S. Pressure

Xi Jinping, General Secretary of China, and Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany. This is a photo from November 2022 when Chancellor Scholz visited China./Xinhua News Agency.

China is predicted to continue its all-out diplomatic offensive in April and May to secure essential allies and overcome the ongoing pressure from the U.S. Since the first half of 2018. The U.S. has been striving to completely dismantle China’s ambition to become the world’s top economy by 2035. From the U.S.’s perspective, this situation is undoubtedly challenging.

A closer look at China’s diplomatic agenda schedule planned for April and May indicates that the analysis is quite convincing. According to diplomatic sources in Beijing on the 8th, the first event to note is a meeting between Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who visited China on the 8th. This meeting follows their previous encounter seven months ago, in September and October last year.

General Secretary Xi Jinping is also scheduled to hold a summit with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is revisiting China in a year and a half on a two-day schedule from the 15th to the 16th. Chancellor Scholz’s entourage, including representatives from prominent German firms like Siemens and Mercedes-Benz, underscores the significance of this visit.

President Xi’s upcoming visit to France in early May is equally noteworthy, marking his first meeting with President Emmanuel Macron in over a year. Additionally, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated visit to China in mid-May aims to reaffirm his close rapport with Xi. Furthermore, a trilateral summit between China, Japan, and South Korea will likely be held in Korea at the end of May. These events illustrate China’s efforts to push its diplomatic offensive to overcome U.S. pressure.

While China is unlikely to critique the U.S. overtly during these diplomatic engagements, discussions are anticipated to revolve around bilateral or global issues. Notably, during summits with Germany and France, traditional U.S. allies, China is expected to tread cautiously given their geopolitical stances.

However, from the U.S. perspective, China’s moves are inevitably uncomfortable. Especially considering that Germany and France are relatively pro-China among Western countries, it’s not surprising that the U.S. might feel a sense of discomfort. This could be an ideal situation for China, which is trying to divide the unified opposition of the Western world led by the U.S. It appears that these geopolitical imperatives have motivated China’s proactive pursuit of an all-encompassing diplomatic strategy since the start of the year.