Chinese leader Xi Jinping has completed a three-country tour of Europe, his first in five years.
The visit was aimed at calming growing antagonism between Beijing and European governments caused by Chinese diplomacy and its economic strength. More subtly, Xi wants to drive a wedge between Europe and the United States, or at least hinder their convergence in a policy that identifies China as a threat.
His three destinations – France, Serbia and Hungary – are all, to varying degrees, inclined to be sympathetic to Beijing’s call for a multipolar world order. They go against the restrictions imposed by the policies of Brussels and Washington and strive for greater autonomy in foreign policy.
