Hostility from summit to summit

Gentlemen with ties: The look at the Central Asia Summit in Xi’an was probably meant to symbolize unity.

The globalized world continues to drift apart. While Xi let himself be hailed by Central Asian Silk Road partners, the G7 opted for a more robust defense against China. Although the G7 also emphasized their willingness to engage in dialogue, the signal went down very badly in Beijing.

If the metaphor of a summit is taken literally, one could make out two peaks that were mentally far apart at the weekend. While Xi Jinping celebrated a new, sinocentric order of Asia at the Central Asia Summit, Japan pushed through a clearly China-critical agenda against German reservations at the G7 summit.

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