As Xi Befriends World Leaders, He Hardens His Stance on the U.S.

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has rolled out the red carpet for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, hailing him as an “old friend of the Chinese people.” He had sipped tea in the garden with President Emmanuel Macron of France, treating him to an ancient Chinese zither performance. And he has spoken on the phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, congratulations on the holy month of Ramadan.

But even as Mr. Xi has extended a warm hand to other world leaders in recent weeks, it has been a cold shoulder for the United States. China has rejected the Biden administration’s efforts to restart high-level talks and ease tensions over Taiwan. And Mr. Xi’s administration has stepped up its campaign of ridicule and criticism of the United States and Western democracies.

Taken together, the effort to shore up ties with American allies while publicly disparaging the United States reflects Beijing’s increasingly difficult position as relations hit a decades-long low point in what Mr. Xi described as China’s “containment, encirclement and suppression.”

The two-pronged approach, some analysts say, is convincing evidence that Mr. Xi is fully committed to the view that the engagement between China and the United States is fruitless, at least for now. And it has lent urgency to concerns that the two powers are on a collision course that could lead to a dangerous accident, or even war, over Taiwan and other geopolitical flash points.

Mr Xi’s diplomatic efforts were rebuffed by the United States and some of his closest allies this week, as a meeting of the top Group of 7 diplomats gathered in Japan and vowed to deal with China’s growing assertiveness. But Mr Xi still got some of the backlash he and other Chinese officials expected in recent months, visibly undermining some of the alliances that underpin Washington’s influence.

During Mr Xi’s meeting with Mr Lula, the Brazilian leader railed against the dominance of the US dollar in trade and visited the research center of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which is under sanctions from the United States. Mr Macron praised European autonomy and warned against being dragged by the United States into a war against Taiwan. And Prince Mohammed lauded China’s growing “constructive role” in the Middle East, the United States’ vague digs and strained relations in the region.

At the same time, Chinese state media railed against the “dangers” and “abuses” of American hegemony and criticized the United States for human rights, racism and gun violence. It has seized on leaked Pentagon documents to highlight how Washington is spying on its allies. And it has mocked the Biden administration for holding a democracy summit last month, describing US democracy as a “mess,” “a mess” and “in steady decline.”

Beijing’s harder line reflects its frustration over a number of US moves, particularly those related to Taiwan, an independent island claimed by China. Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, visited the United States earlier this month and met with Kevin McCarthy, the chairman of the House of Representatives. On Monday, Taiwan said it had reached a deal to buy up to 400 US anti-ship missiles to help fight a potential Chinese invasion.

Then there are the joint military exercises the United States is conducting with the Philippines, the largest in decades.

The move has fueled deepening resentment centered on US restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports to China and deepening security ties between the United States and countries on China’s periphery such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and India.

For Chinese officials, American pleas for renewed diplomatic engagement – including a long-awaited phone call between Mr Biden and Mr Xi – ring hollow in the face of what they see as hostility and provocation. High-level talks can only resume after the United States shows “credible sincerity with concrete actions,” Chinese state media said last week.

“The responsibility for the current difficulties in China-US relations does not lie with China,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said recently when asked about continuing dialogue with Washington and the possibility of rescheduling the Secretary’s visit to Beijing. of the State of Antony J. Blinken which was canceled after the emergence of a suspected high-altitude Chinese spy balloon over the continental United States in February.

“The US needs to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and harming China’s interests, and stop undermining the political foundation for our bilateral relations while stressing the need to put ‘guardrails’ in the relationship,” Mr. Wang added.

The Biden administration has said it wants to create “guardrails” to prevent incidents from misunderstandings in hotly contested areas such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where China is conducting live fire drills in response to Ms Tsai’s visit. Without protocols and direct lines of communication, the risk of an incident will remain high as US and Chinese forces patrol the area regularly, and often at close range.

Beijing sees the guardrails as another form of containment because they will reveal to the United States how far it can push without triggering a military response. China prefers to keep the red line ambiguous and leave Washington guessing.

China suspended most military dialogue with the United States last August after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The Pentagon said as recently as last week that Beijing has rejected requests for engagement with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark A. Milley.

Mr. Blinken expressed optimism that high-level talks would continue.

“I hope that we can make progress. But it requires China to clarify its own goals to do so,” he said on Tuesday while speaking to reporters at the Group of 7 meeting in Japan.

Analysts say Mr Xi is convinced he has nothing to gain from talking to President Biden today, especially as negative views of China in the United States appear to be strengthening.

“Xi clearly believes that engagement for the sake of engagement is a fool’s errand. The time for talking has passed. However, it’s time for Beijing to batten down the hatches,” said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “There’s no going back, so Xi must now prepare China for a tougher future.”

Minxin Pei, a professor at Claremont McKenna College who studies Chinese politics, said Beijing would re-engage with Washington if it felt it had more influence. This could come after Beijing deepens ties with other countries with no ties like Brazil or after widening divisions in Europe over how to follow the United States in a tougher stance toward China.

“China wants to engage the US from a position of strength, and China is clearly not in that position now,” Mr. Pei said. “If anything, America’s success in gathering allies and technology warfare against China proves that it is still more powerful than China and has other tools at its disposal.”

China is now trying to draw a fine line between snubbing the United States diplomatically and trying to persuade its central bankers and investors that it is reopening for business after years of strict Covid measures.

Yi Gang, China’s central bank governor, met with Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington last week to discuss his country’s economy. Plans are also underway for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to visit China.

But Mr. Yi also has a complaint. He criticized Western countries for not shifting trade away from China to geopolitical allies, using the term “friend-shoring” in a statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on Friday.

Chinese analysts say the prospect of Sino-US relations improving anytime soon remains remote. The little progress that Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden made after meeting in Indonesia last November only disappeared after the balloon incident and Ms. Tsai’s visit to the United States, said Wu Xinbo, dean of international studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“In China’s view, although Biden showed a good attitude in Bali, he is not willing to improve Sino-US relations,” said Mr. Wu. “China thinks that the US does not have the sincerity or the ability to improve relations.”

Olivia Wang contribute reports.