Sun said China was at least stepping back from “wolf warrior” diplomacy – a change from its sharp, coercive style of dealing with other countries over the past decade.
“But if the question is whether the Chinese are capable of coming up with a new alternative world order, I don’t think so.”
Evan Feigenbaum, a former US official at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in an essay that China has already won support for its efforts in parts of the world that were less invested in the Ukraine war, such as Brazil.
He said that China’s diplomacy can only help Europe, if not much, and has no idea of winning over the United States.
“Beijing must have already concluded that Washington would dismiss any Chinese diplomatic activity as demonstrative – a kind of Peking opera,” he wrote.
“But Americans are not China’s audience, so Beijing doesn’t care much about what Washington thinks.”