In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat
If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.
“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.
China is on a charm offensive with western leaders, a path cleared by Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic and destabilising power grabs on the global stage. Although Europe breathed a sigh of relief this week when Trump withdrew the threat of using military force in Greenland and said he would not impose tariffs on opponents of his plans in the Arctic, the US no longer seems like a reliable partner.
Running from one superpower dependency to another.
Lateral move at best.
Xi cares about Xi.
For the tankie who inevitably wull ackshuallys me: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/nobody-is-safe-chinas-xi-targets-his-close-ally-purge-2026-01-26/
That’s what Xi does to his closest friends.
The article I saw yesterday about this Gen. Zhang Youxia said he was leaking sensitive information to the US. I wonder why Reuters declined to mention this accusation.
It seems like, maybe, with a title like “nobody is safe”, the authors are trying to scare us more than they’re trying to inform us.
It’s also a bit strange that they’re spinning the fact that this guy’s status and personal connections didn’t make him immune as a bad thing. If we were talking about western politics this would be a virtue.
Sure he was. 🙄
Yes China sucks to do business with. However currently they suck a tiny bit less than dealing with Trump’s constant tantrums and the rest of the USA sycophants.
The SHART OF THE DEAL.
This is what happens when you have a know-nothing real-estate failson dumbass elevated to a position like this and an adoring bunch of cult members in the base that result in the rest of the Republicans being afraid to hem Crazy Uncle Liberty in.
正如计划的那样 🙏👓
The world will be a better place with China as a more dominant world power. People are going to get a taste of what real cheap and well made commodities are like without the looming threat of economic warfare. They are gonna get electrified infrastructure with cheap solar panel tech.
Well everyone except the US. We will continue to rot and suffer as our political class insists that if we only deregulate our industries for a few billionaires to jerk each other off over while actively working to collaborate with and bolster the fascist elements of the owner class.
The future is socialist. The US is hellbent on staying in the past and wants to drag everyone down with them.
Is China socialist, though? I keep seeing them labeled as being communist and socialist but they seem like something else altogether.
Did I say they were socialist? I didn’t.
I could go over the laundry list of reasons why they are not socialist but are very much implementing the exact kinds of policies a socialist would implement. Remember that socialism is a transitionary society organization. China has not yet achieved its minimum program yet in regards to uplifting all of its citizens to a baseline of existence yet. But every day they are getting closer and closer to that reality.
