China has weathered the chaos of 2020 arguably better than any other major power. In the coming months, the leader, Xi Jinping, appears willing to take advantage of the new Biden government and project a confident Communist Party into its centenary.
Mr. Xi and his lieutenants have taken a cheerful tone in recent weeks, profiling their professed success last year by containing the coronavirus and eradicating rural poverty. They have portrayed China as a responsible force, offering stable leadership amid a global economic downturn and mounting geopolitical tensions that they blame for America’s fighting spirit. Signs of a healthy recovery in the world’s second-largest economy have seen Mr. Xi gave a stronger hand in dealing with countries that are still grappling with the pandemic and its economic consequences.
While President-elect Joe Biden has signaled plans to rally multilateral efforts to control China on issues ranging from trade to human rights, Mr. Xi tried to offset any American pressure with his own diplomatic victories. Since the election victory of Mr. Biden in November, China anchored a new Asia-Pacific trade pact of 15 countries and signed an investment deal with the European Union – adding weight to the concerns of the incoming Biden government.
China is nevertheless facing major challenges at home and abroad. Many nations are becoming wary of the superpower’s aggressive foreign policy. The investment pact with Europe has yet to be ratified. And it must overcome the long-term economic consequences of the pandemic and growing doubts about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines that officials have hoped could win hearts and minds worldwide.
Beijing has shown no signs of a decline. Reflecting his confidence, Mr. Xi’s government has put control in the periphery of his country, carrying out massive arrests of opposition members in Hong Kong this month while conducting high-frequency fighter jets near Taiwan’s island democracy , which according to Beijing’s territory.