Xi Jinping's ongoing charm offensive in Southeast Asia is a really comical spectacle, revealing just how bad the situation in China must be at the moment that the emperor himself has to plead for cooperation with the neighbours he's been shamelessly trying to rob for over a decade.
Imagine that? Xi Jinping talks about "resisting confrontation" and "protectionism".
The very same man who has imposed the nine-dash line on ASEAN nations, claiming most of the South China Sea for Beijing against international law, building Chinese military facilities on disputed islands and using the coast guard to harass vessels of other countries.
Now he dares to come and say – "Dear friends! Let's work together! Let's resist confrontation!"
Oh yes, and "protectionism" – ah, China, the shining beacon of free trade! The very same that banned many foreign companies from operating in the country, violated every commitment it made to the US before joining WTO regarding state subsidies, intellectual property laws, legal fairness, abolition of legal obstacles to trade, opening the market to foreign entities and cease coerced technology transfers, now says – "protectionism is bad!".
Sure, it's bad when someone is finally using it the other way around. Doesn't feel nice, does it?
For 12 years since taking over Xi Jinping has been behaving like a mafia boss, Chinese Don Corleone making everybody "offers they can't refuse". And he now expects his victims to welcome him as a friend and partner?
And we're only talking about ASEAN. China's often questionable Belt & Road investments, alleged debt traps or attempts to offload manufacturing capacity at dumping prices onto other nations, with the aim of flooding them with cheap goods to the point of implosion of their domestic industries, do not help China elsewhere as well.
Xi has now started calling for a partnership with Europe – the very same Europe China has been abusing no less than the USA, while supporting the murderous regime in Moscow, helping it wage war on Ukraine which, let's be honest, is really just a war on the West.
Just because the world loathes Donald Trump doesn't mean that Xi Jinping has become a palatable alternative.
Trump may currently be reviled worldwide but he has signalled intent to strike deals with all countries and once they are in force the US is generally trusted to honour them. The same cannot be said of China, which is not known for playing fair even with its partners.
Actions have consequences and more than a decade of abuses cannot be ignored as if nothing had happened only because you now share the same problem with your victims.
China has had decades to demonstrate that it is genuinely interested in supporting international multilateralism. And if it had, it would have paid dividends today.
It's quite paradoxical that for all the reported strategic, long-term focus that is supposed to drive China's governance, the country's international relations are marked by cynical, knee-jerk short-termism.
Which is why Xi Jinping can't expect the world to follow him into battle against Trump – and wouldn't really mind if the latter still came out on top in the stand-off with China.
