China’s foreign policy since Deng Xiao Ping is mostly focusing in domestic issues, and mostly shy away from international issues. Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao mostly followed Deng’s foreign policy to build up its strength, China was not totally respected around in the world.
I think one of the biggest incidents of how China was embarassed was Hu Jintao’s state visit to the US in 2006. The announcer ‘mistakingly’ announced national anthem the “Republic of China'” instead of “People’s Republic of China.” They also allowed a Falun Gong protester Wang Wenyi in the stand and she was interrupting Hu’s speech when Wang was not pulled out from stage. The last humilitation was when President Bush pulled on Hu’s jacket. It seemed that China’s century of humiliation has not ended at the time.
Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” policy was in the background when Xi Jinping was elected as General Secretary in 2012 and this embarrassment will not be repeated. The policy of “Hide your strength, bide your time” started to unshackle. China’s Made in China 2025 is a policy to strengthen its domestic production of key areas including the military. BRICS started at around the end of Hu’s presidency but gotten rolling under Xi. The secondary purpose of one belt one road is establish economic ties with many foreign governments. The most important thing what Xi became close with Putin and both started on the work on a multipolar world.
However, even with these policies alone, China’s rise could not start until when the west particular the US is strong. First term’s Trump’s follies started to expose vulnerabilities of the West. The war over Ukraine exposed the NATO’s weakness of the military. Trump’s second administration in its tariff war against friendly countries is a final nail exposed the weakness of the west.
The final nail in the coffin in Deng’s policy of Hide your strength, bide your time happened this week in the SCO meeting and the subsequent China’s 80th Victory Day Parade over Japanese agression. This week China took advantage of this weakness by Xi declaring the “Global governance” initative as well as the picture of Xi, Putin and Modi huddling together has cemented China on top Multipolar world. The Victory Parade with more than 20 foreign leaders as well as China’s modern military hardware shows the China is a military power greater than the US.
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