Mr. Zelenskiy, It’s Xi Jinping On the Line
Xi — fresh from securing himself an eyebrow-raising third term in office — is trying to do four things. First, he wants to push back globally against the US, which he accuses of trying to impede China’s rise. Second, he wants to pose — with a keen eye to audiences in the “Global South” — as a global peacemaker and honest broker. Third, he aims to prevent Russia’s war against Ukraine from escalating to a nuclear conflict. And last, he wants to enshrine his own interpretation of sovereignty as a guiding principle to global politics, with a view to Taiwan.