China’s Xi Visits Europe, Seeking Strategic Opportunity - The New York Times

The Nugget

Xi Jinping is visiting Europe to seek strategic opportunities and loosen the continent's bonds with the United States, forging a world less dominated by American influence. He has carefully chosen France, Serbia, and Hungary - countries that to varying degrees embrace Beijing's push for a new global order.

Make it stick

🌍 China seeks to "loosen Europe's bonds with the US" and "forge a world freed of American dominance"
🇫🇷 France's Macron wants "strategic autonomy" and to develop the EU as a "Europe power"
🇷🇸 Serbia is a major Chinese trade partner and sees China as a counterweight to US power
🇭🇺 Hungary's Orban has backed massive Chinese investment and diluted EU criticism of China

Xi is visiting France, Serbia, and Hungary - countries that are skeptical of US dominance and eager to strengthen ties with China
China wants to demonstrate its growing influence in Europe and pursue a pragmatic rapprochement with the continent
This is seen as an effort by Xi to divide Western allies and loosen Europe's bonds with the US

Europe is torn between the economic opportunities of China and the security/geopolitical risks
French President Macron wants "strategic autonomy" for Europe, not just being a "vassal of the US"
But frontline EU states like Poland are much more wary of China and committed to the US alliance

Macron will try to enlist Xi's support for ending the war in Ukraine, but China has shown little willingness to pressure Russia
Macron sees France as a bridge between the "Global South" (inc. BRICS) and the West
He is wary of a potential return of Trump in the US, and wants to ensure Europe's relevance in the coming decades

"For Xi, being in Belgrade is a very economical way to ask if the United States is really serious about international law, and to say, how about NATO overreach as a problem for other countries?"
"The United States always views itself as the leader — or hegemon — of the world, so China is a competitor or adversary that is challenging its hegemony. The European Union does not have a hegemonic mind-set."
"Macron is trying to bring a third way in the current global chaos. He is trying to walk a fine line between the two main superpowers."

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.