China Is Squandering a Golden Opportunity: Why Beijing Has Failed to Exploit Trump’s Missteps (David Shambaugh and Steven F. Jackson, May 12, 2026, Foreign Affairs)
Although China’s diplomatic footprint is broad, it is not necessarily impactful. Beijing is not driving the international diplomatic agenda, and it is not the most influential power in any region of the world. It never gets in the middle of the world’s most troublesome issues or conflicts, and it rarely brokers negotiations between contested parties (as is currently the case with the Iran conflict). Beijing tends to offer anodyne calls for peace and negotiation but rarely forges direct negotiations to truly resolve conflicts. This diplomatic disappearing act is symptomatic of China’s exaggerated sense of its own global power.
Xiism is no more a viable alternative to liberalism than Trumpism is. Then again, Xi and Donald are pretty similar.