A succession of political leaders have been trooping to Beijing in recent months. Is it an indication of a new world order? Tania Branigan explains
Xi Jinping had a busy January. First came the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin. Then it was Mark Carney of Canada’s turn. He was followed by the Finnish prime minister, the Uruguayan president and then, last week, Keir Starmer.
But what does this rush to China mean? The Guardian leader writer Tania Branigan says much of it is to do with Trump. “There are real opportunities that people see in China – and at a point where the US looks so erratic, so hostile to people who have traditionally been among its staunchest allies. There is a sense that it just makes sense,” she tells Helen Pidd.
Yet, she says, that doesn’t mean that China will necessarily eclipse the US. “I don’t think it’s about one superpower replacing another, but I think it is about the end of American hegemony.”