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China

Will Xi play ball with Trump on Ukraine?

US president-elect Donald Trump has invited China’s president Xi Jinping to his inauguration on January 20 in a surprise move which appears to be part of a plan to involve Beijing in ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine.

Facile comparisons

It is entirely in Beijing’s interest that the US-led West, which had disentangled itself from West Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan theatre to focus its strategic energies on the Indo-Pacific to counter the threat of a rampant China, be waylaid in Europe. That is a huge relief for Beijing which was getting cornered in the Asia-Pacific.

US and Taiwan

Indeed the Russian aggression of Ukraine has focused attention on China’s threat to use force to annex self-governing democratic Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory. Circumstances are rather different, however. Taiwan is situated 160 km across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. It enjoys strong support from the United States, which is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself and treat all threats to it as matters of grave concern.