Xi Jinping is more subtle than Vladimir Putiny and just as disruptive | World News

Two years after Xi Jinping declared a No Limits partnership with Vladimir Putin, and as the leaders meet in Beijing on May 16-17, the world is getting a good look at what the chinas approach means in practice. It's not pretty. As we explain this week, Chinese companies are sustaining Mr. Putin's war in Ukraine by selling items to Russia needed to make weapons. Chinas coast guard is intimidation vessels in the South China Sea, enforcing its false territorial claims. And Chinas spies would mix in Britain and elsewhere.

PRIME

Mr. Xis Challenge to the world is more subtle than that posed by the Putin chalet. Yet it's still a problem. He craves a thumbs-up order for rights, allowing China to do as it pleases. Its support for the Pariah States is meant to challenge and divide the West, while avoiding direct confrontation. It is coercion of the gray area In the South China Sea, not war, but aims to weaken the enemies. China believes these tactics can be maintained without becoming part of the conflict. The question for any country that supports global rules is how far Mr. Xi can leave.

As for Russia, the head of Chinas has already gone far enough. Mr. Xi ignores Western calls for him to tone down his support for Mr. Putin, viewing Russia as a indispensable partner In his campaign to dismantle the American-led order. The two countries have deepened their military and commercial ties. America, in turn, tightened sanctions, and Impressive prices on China in other regions. Chinese components and machinery are of greatest concern to Russian arms manufacturers. Antony Blinken, the Americas' top diplomat, said Russia would find it difficult to continue in Ukraine without Chinese support. China is not participating in the crisis, nor in any part, Haristles Mr Xi. But a long war that tests Western unity is to its advantage.

On the other side of the world, it is the risk of a conflict caused by China that worries America and its allies. The South China Sea is larger than the Mediterranean, but increasingly difficult to cross without encountering Chinese coast guard ships doing dangerous things. Near two disputed shoals, Chinese guards regularly blast Philippine ships with water cannons powerful enough to bend metal. Further south, Chinese ships harass Malaysian ships in search of oil and gas in Malaysia's exclusive economic zone, waters that China calls its own.

Philippine Defense Treaty with America Turns Chinese Bullying into Superpower Standoff. The stakes are also high on Taiwan, which is preparing to swear in Lai Ching-te as its new president on May 20. China is increasingly acting as if the islands' air and maritime borders do not exist. America and its allies are preparing for the worst-case scenario: a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. But for now, the biggest danger lies in the gray zone, where Chinese actions risk a spiral of escalation.

By design, Chinese actions in Europe, Asia and elsewhere often fall between war and peace. A forceful response risks appearing to be an overreaction. But doing nothing means ceding incremental gains to China. The first task, then, is for Western countries to expose Chinese actions for what they are: a glimpse of the global order that Chinese leaders seek, in which no country cares whatsoever to challenge their power. Shining daylight on China helps avoid complacency. (Before the invasion of Ukraine, European states took too long to believe American warnings about Russia's malicious intentions.) And information can change public opinion. Polls in some countries that are targets of China's intimidation suggest growing distrust.

All this makes a second task easier. America must support its allies, not as an act of charity, but because they are a superpower asset that China lacks. Relentless Chinese and Russian attempts to divide alliances, from NATO to the Americas Defense Network in Asia, are a backhanded compliment. Autocrats respect strength and there is strength in numbers.

Finally, the West must exploit the fact that Mr. Xis Country has a stake in stability. Chinas leader is not about to abandon Mr Putin. But unlike his Russian friend, he doesn't win from chaos. Mr. Blinken credited China for persuading Russia not to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. Nor has China provided lethal weapons. There are, in fact, limits to their relationship, just as there are lines that China seems reluctant to cross in the South China Sea. Naive dreams of changing China lie in the past: its worldview of all countries for itself is too clear. But Mr. Xis, a world calculation approach is also an opportunity. As China's economy slows, there is interest in avoiding a complete break from the West. The best way to temper Mr. Xis' aggression and gray area intimidation is to show that it has costs.