One Reason China Is Willing to Engage Again: Its Troubled Economy
“China’s decision making is as hidden from our view as it has ever been, but China’s economic weakness is obvious for all to see, even China’s leaders, which can’t help but be one source of the recent moderation in foreign policy and willingness to engage Washington,” said Scott Kennedy, a China specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Security concerns remain paramount.
Still, analysts noted that any softening in approach remained limited to economic or business policies that do not involve China’s national security, which has become a defining feature of Chinese policy in recent years. And there are few signs that the top leader, Xi Jinping, has endorsed a broad policy shift toward the United States, a step that would be necessary for any change to take root.
On Saturday China announced that it would hold joint naval and air force exercises with the Russian military in the Sea of Japan. And Mr. Xi himself gave a speech on July 6 urging the military to “break new ground” in war preparedness, warning that “China’s security situation is facing rising instability and uncertainty,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.
China has also taken steps this month that could undermine its reputation as a reliable link in global supply chains. It said it would limit exports of rare materials needed to make semiconductors, in a step widely seen as retaliation for American limits on the sale of advanced semiconductors to China.
Source: The New York Times
