China's Xi has met with more than 25 world leaders since consolidating power at home

BEIJING — A period aft consolidating powerfulness astatine home, Chinese President Xi Jinping has stepped retired onto the satellite signifier to fortify relations with the U.S. and different countries.

In all, Xi has met with much than 25 heads of authorities — including U.S. President Joe Biden — since Oct. 31, according to a CNBC number of releases connected the Chinese Foreign Ministry's English-language website. Earlier successful October, Xi oversaw a enactment reshuffle of the ruling Chinese Communist Party that packed apical positions with his loyalists and paved the mode for him to summation an unprecedented 3rd word arsenic president.

Most recently, Xi hosted President of the European Council Charles Michel successful Beijing connected Thursday. That followed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's sojourn successful aboriginal November, the archetypal Western person to bash truthful since the pandemic.

"This twelvemonth we spot [Xi] coming retired ever since his [September] SCO trip, coming retired much and engaging much with the planetary community," said Michael Cunningham, probe fellow, China, astatine The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center. "That volition beryllium a situation for the U.S."

Cunningham said U.S. efforts to physique overseas coalitions person been helped by Xi's lack from the planetary signifier for overmuch of the past 3 years.

The meetings travel aft the Russia-Ukraine warfare and Covid restrictions connected question person pushed Beijing and the West apart. Tensions implicit Taiwan this summertime further strained U.S.-China relations.

"Xi is restoring his pre-pandemic level of diplomacy done bilateral meetings with galore authorities leaders attending the G20 acme successful Bali," Eurasia Group analysts said successful a Nov. 18 report. "He met with leaders of precocious concern democracies for the archetypal clip since the pandemic began and amid fraught relations betwixt China and the West. Most of Xi's meetings fueled a affirmative outlook for stabilizing relations."

Xi yet met Biden in-person for the archetypal clip arsenic U.S. president connected Nov. 14, signaling a intermission successful this year's downward spiral of relations betwixt the world's 2 largest economies. The week following, the countries' subject leaders met for the archetypal clip since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's arguable Taiwan sojourn successful August.

The high-stakes Xi-Biden gathering signaled to immoderate successful China that relations with the U.S. were aligning much with vague terminology that Beijing often uses — specified arsenic "mutual respect" and "win-win cooperation."

"For China, the wording carries immoderate token symbolism, that is equality," said Shen Yamei, lawman manager and subordinate probe chap astatine state-backed deliberation vessel China Institute of International Studies' section for American studies. "We request to grip our relations connected adjacent footing, by respecting each different and win-win cooperation, alternatively than, arsenic the U.S. said, the U.S. is dealing with others from a presumption of strength. That's not equal."

Shen said China and the U.S. tin enactment unneurotic much easy connected issues of clime change, nationalist wellness and macroeconomic coordination. She said "it volition beryllium a small spot hard connected issues much acrophobic with accepted information issues, similar our knowing of the Ukraine situation and the mode to enactment [it] out."

"The important happening is we [keep] successful caput the work of a large state to the satellite by cooperating with each other," she said.

The Biden medication has called China a competitor, portion strengthening U.S. ties with different countries, particularly successful the Indo-Pacific.

Heads of Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia and Italy met with some Xi and Biden successful the past respective weeks, based connected authorities announcements.

"Right present the governmental situation successful China is different," Cunningham said. Xi "is trying to get relationships backmost connected the close way truthful that the conditions are affirmative for China."

"The mode China sees it, the close way and affirmative conditions is wherever the world's astir almighty countries, the U.S., Western Europe, immoderate of the East Asian countries, are not actively opposing China's emergence arsenic a planetary power," helium said. "That was the way we were connected mostly earlier 2018 erstwhile U.S.-China commercialized tensions truly boiled over."

In his code astatine the Chinese Communist Party legislature successful October, Xi said the Party has "safeguarded China's dignity" successful the look of planetary changes and warned of "dangerous storms" ahead.

Just earlier that governmental meeting, Xi took his archetypal travel extracurricular the state since the pandemic, to Uzbekistan for a gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an Eurasian intergovernmental group. While determination helium met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among different state heads.