Xi Jinping is caught in a bind: how to undermine American power while courting its investors?

• On Wednesday, Xi Jinping was nice to American business leaders and academics.
• He seeks to revive China's faltering economy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping presented an unusually affable image Wednesday, smiling broadly at U.S. business leaders during a meeting in Beijing.

The Chinese leader sought to assure investors, including Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon and Blackstone Group's Stephen Schwarzman, that China's economic slowdown, its biggest contraction in 15 years, would soon be over.

He then painted a bright picture of future US-China relations, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

“Whether traditional areas such as economics, trade and agriculture, or emerging areas such as climate change and artificial intelligence,” he said, “China and the United States should help each other boost their development.”

Just a few weeks ago, Xi struck a very different tone.

In remarks to lawmakers in Beijing at the start of his third term, he blamed the United States for China's woes.

“Western countries led by the United States have implemented widespread containment, encirclement and repression of China, which has posed unprecedented challenges to our country's development,” Xi said. a speech.

Xi's strategy for global domination

Analysts say the tight deal reflects Xi's desire to pursue two seemingly contradictory goals simultaneously.

On the one hand, Xi seeks to implement China's long-term strategy to supplant the United States as the world's preeminent power.

His rhetoric in his speech to Communist Party officials reflects his long-standing grudge against U.S. global influence and his desire to break it.

In Ukraine, China is in conflict with the United States, providing crucial economic and diplomatic support to Russia.

Xi steps up threats to attack Taiwan, a longtime US ally. A US Navy admiral warned this week that China was strengthening its military at a rate not seen since World War II.and may consider attacking Taiwan in a few years.

Experts warn that a dangerous new An anti-democratic axis is forming between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.China being its richest and most powerful member.

Jonathan Ward, analyst at the Wilson Center, told CBS on Wednesday that American leaders are making a serious mistake by continuing to do business in China.

There is an “alternative universe for business,” he said, in which companies can still make money in China.

“But it will eventually collide,” he argued. “And this is really going to impact, if not potentially destroy, major American companies. So I think they now better come to terms with what the U.S.-China relationship actually looks like.”

But Xi is clearly wary of annoying the United States too much at this point.

The Chinese economy, after decades of growth, is experiencing its most serious problems in decades. The housing market crisis has caused rising unemployment, a drop in consumer spending and a flight of foreign investors.

Ali Wyne, an analyst with the NGO International Crisis Group, told Business Insider that China was working to avoid a total collapse of its relations with the United States.

“Courting foreign investment is important for both objective and narrative purposes: China is trying to navigate a difficult set of growth headwinds and signals that influential business leaders are still making a long-term bet on the country,” he said.

“Moreover, although it competes vigorously with the United States, it seeks to avoid a complete breakdown in relations with the world's leading power; sustained engagement with the American business community is essential to this end.”

As part of his bid to strengthen ties with the United States and secure investment last November, Xi made a number of concessions to President Joe Biden, offering to help combat fentanyl trafficking and work together to limit the use of AI in nuclear weapons.

Some analysts say Xi is trying to buy time, easing tensions with the United States to boost the economy but without fundamentally altering his global ambitions.

“It may provide some stability but will not change the nature of a relationship that probably has not yet found its bottom,” said Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. United. talk to NPR in November.

Underscoring the gap between Xi's rhetoric on Wednesday and reality, just days ago the United States and the United Kingdom accused China of waging a massive, years-long hacking campaign targeting companies , politicians and other public figures.

This could be seen as a timely reminder of Xi's top priorities.