Xi in Europe and the TikTok ban

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Europe this week, and the reception he receives there will likely be much different from when he last visited five years ago. “European attitudes toward China have soured significantly,” writes FP’s Christina Lu, “fueled by deepening trade divisions and frustrations over Beijing’s expanded economic and military cooperation with Moscow in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.” Given this, what does Xi hope to achieve on his European tour? He wants to mend ties, Lu reports, blunt Europe’s push to “de-risk” from his country—and push to take advantage of diverging interests with Washington, especially ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year.

That election, and the possibility of foreign interference in it, was one of the main arguments behind the bill signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden in April forcing the Chinese company ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a ban of the popular social media platform. In his argument “Washington Keeps Choosing the Wrong Moment to Challenge China ,” Andrei Lungu argues that the threatened ban will wind up incentivizing Chinese interference, not minimizing it—and that this poor timing and lack of follow-through characterizes Washington’s recent handling of China. In fact, Lungu writes, “it is difficult to look at this entire seven-year process”—since decoupling first appeared as a buzzword—“and find something that worked well.”

In “Nobody Is Competing With the U.S. to Begin With ,” Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute goes one step further, declaring that U.S. officials’ obsession with the threat posed by China and Russia to American global primacy is not just leading to a series of blunders but is rather a “serious strategic miscalculation.” Lieven argues that the issues bedeviling relations between the U.S. and its two main foes are actually local ones, and that Washington should consider making a “tactical withdrawal” from them.?

One other dynamic to note in all of this is that Xi’s visit to Europe comes on the heels of two U.S. diplomatic missions to China. How should we read the recent surge in high-level engagement? Subscribers can catch FP’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal, in conversation with Evan Medeiros , the former China director in the U.S. National Security Council, on whether this flurry of diplomacy is a sign that Beijing is trying to stabilize ties with the West. Follow along this week as we bring you the analysis you need on Xi’s Europe trip and more.—Amelia Lester, executive editor

New and Noteworthy?

• When AI decides: A recent investigation uncovered how the Israel Defense Forces has been using AI-driven systems to fulfill its goal of a total destruction of Hamas. Yet its “willingness to strike targets when the risk of bystanders dying is very high” raises questions on how to responsibly oversee—and take accountability for—reliance on machines under wartime conditions.
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Fareed Zakaria on an Age of Revolutions

May 22 | 11 a.m. ET

Are we living in an age of revolutions? In his previous books, CNN host and author Fareed Zakaria foresaw the growth of illiberal democracy and “the rise of the rest”—two trends that define geopolitics today. Zakaria will join FP’s Ravi Agrawal for a wide-ranging discussion about his latest book, Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present. Register now .?

Inside China’s New Diplomatic Push

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Is Beijing trying to stabilize ties with the West? What impact might that have on China’s role in the war in Ukraine and its relations with Russia? Evan Medeiros, a former China director in the U.S. National Security Council, joined FP Live to contextualize the recent surge in engagement. Watch the conversation now.?

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The World Food Program warns that a famine in Gaza is “getting closer by the day.” A United Nations-backed report says it’s “imminent.” With food, fuel, and medicine all in short supply, who is responsible for providing aid to the millions of displaced Gazans? Sari Bashi, the program director of Human Rights Watch, and Shira Efron, Israel Policy Forum’s research director, joined FP Live to answer these questions. Watch the conversation now, or read the edited transcript.?

Exercise Your Mind

Security forces in Georgia used water cannons, tear gas, and stun grenades last Tuesday against protesters who were demonstrating against what?

?(A) Parliament’s consideration of ceding South Ossetia to Russia

(B) Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s recent pro-Israel statements

(C) Growing ties between Tbilisi and Moscow

(D) Parliament’s consideration of a “foreign agents” bill

You can find the answer to this question and learn more at the end of this email.?

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