"As Xi [Jinping] steps back, Li [Qiang] could emerge as an important interlocutor for governments and companies that want to engage with China, said Neil Thomas, a Chinese politics fellow at @AsiaPolicy."
Great @AP report by @kmorit
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"Li has held talks at the U.N. this week with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker."
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"Thomas described Li as 'an incredibly important person' to engage with during the U.N. meeting. 'He’s acting on Xi’s behalf,' he said, 'and will be able to relay messages between Xi and the world.'"
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Told @nytimes the Beijing military parade "underscores China’s pull with autocrats as the world’s leading authoritarian power" and illustrated how "China is already a regional superpower."
But we shouldn't get too carried away about a new China-led world order...
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As I told @business "this week is a diplomatic triumph for Beijing but China is still years or decades away from neutralizing US power in global finance, security and technology."
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China is offering trade, investment, and stability—and that’s a very attractive package right now.
But it’s not yet offering the type of hard security guarantees and open economic architectures provided by the US, even with Trump’s America First policies.
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