Christina Lu
Five years after embarking on his last European tour, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to return to the continent on Sunday with a new mission: damage control.
When Xi last set foot on the continent, European views of Beijing—and the broader geopolitical landscape—looked dramatically different. In 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic had yet to throttle the world. Russia was still years away from launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Chinese electric vehicles hadn’t yet inundated European markets. And, in a sign of China’s economic and geopolitical clout at the time, Italy had just become the first G-7 nation to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
European attitudes toward China have soured significantly in the years since, fueled by deepening trade divisions and frustrations over Beijing’s expanded economic and military cooperation with Moscow in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. With Xi’s upcoming trip—which includes stops in France, Serbia, and Hungary—the Chinese leader is hoping to mend ties over the Russia-Ukraine war and blunt Europe’s push to “de-risk” from his country.
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