Xi Jinping Launches a Charm Offensive to Repair China’s Tattered Image
The president’s efforts to portray the nation as “trustworthy, lovable and respectable” abroad sometimes conflict with domestic considerations.
The last three years have been terrible for China’s global image.
Chinese authorities’ attempts to derail inquiries into the origins of the Covid-19 virus have fanned suspicions that they’re withholding critical information. President Xi Jinping’s embrace of Vladimir Putin in a “no limits” partnership weeks before the Russian leader sent troops into Ukraine has fueled speculation that Beijing may be planning an invasion of its own across the Taiwan Strait. Even Wall Street—once an unabashed China cheerleader—turned more skeptical after a regulatory assault on the country’s private sector left money managers wondering whether the country had become uninvestable.