Opinion | China’s failing foreign policy needs a reboot to avert a US cold war

Soon after the 17th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party named Xi Jinping as China’s next leader, the heir apparent set about cultivating a foreign policy resume. This already set him apart from his immediate predecessors.

He travelled to dozens of countries. After becoming party general secretary in 2012 and China's president in 2013, Xi began centralising his authority, including over foreign policy. He created and headed the Central Leading Group on Foreign Affairs, which in 2018 was merged into the more powerful Central Foreign Affairs Commission, also headed by him. What this meant was that Xi, more than any leader in the post-Deng era, was the architect of China’s foreign policy.

While aspects of the more assertive new foreign policy that China has pursued under Xi predate his tenure, Xi himself has greatly expanded China’s global reach. His ambitious Belt and Road Initiative is investing in dozens of countries from Central and Southeast Asia to Latin America.

Under his watch, China established its first overseas military base in Djibouti. Militarisation of the South China Sea likewise continued. Xi’s rhetoric towards Taiwan has been harsher than those used by his predecessors, especially after Tsai Ing-wen came to power. And twice in the past three years Chinese and Indian troops have engaged in stand-offs over disputed territory.

Now well into Xi’s second term, what has this aggressive new foreign policy gained for China? If its goal was to push the United States out of Asia, it has failed. The US is doubling down on its own infrastructure investment initiative in the region, and is continuing to demonstrate its military’s capability of operating in the South China Sea.