China shakes the West

China was on top of the world in 2017. In the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration and the subsequent protectionist and inward turn of the United States, China’s president Xi Jinping emerged as the self-proclaimed champion of free trade and globalization. Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative grew in momentum, with new projects launching under the ambitious trillion-dollar trade and investment strategy to reconnect Eurasia and position China at the centre of the global economy.

But after a year of highs, China ended the year on a low. From Australia to Europe and United States, Beijing is facing pushback over its political influence in western democracies and encountering setbacks in its investment ventures in the developing world.

In this opinion piece for the New York Times, DIIS Senior Researcher Luke Patey argues that Beijing is committing a strategic misstep through its political influence in western democracies. He proposes that rather than continue the political interference abroad, Chinese leaders refocus attention on building partnerships that can expand the trade and investment that brought China to the heights of the global economy in the first place.