Charm offensive as Xi ramps up 'people diplomacy'
President Xi Jinping’s latest trip to Europe was one of the signs that Beijing is ramping up "people-to-people" diplomacy to counter-balance trade tensions, as the president went on a charm offensive to boost economic ties with central and southeast Europe, according to a political commentator. Speaking after the president wrapped up his visit to France, Serbia and Hungary, Einar Tangen, a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute and the chairman of Asia Narratives, told RTHK that Xi also hoped to show Europe that what China had been doing over the past 10 years - including with the Belt and Road Initiative - "has been all trade and growth". "Over 50 different agreements were signed between China and these three nations, covering all areas...," he said. "What he’s doing is definitely people-to-people diplomacy, especially at the higher level, you could see very clearly that he had a very good rapport on a personal level with President Macron, as well as [the] leaders of both Hungary and Serbia, and he actually stayed an extra couple of hours in Serbia," Tangen said. Xi’s visit to the region, which was the first in five years, came at a critical time amid mounting trade pressure, with the European Union (EU) pressing ahead with investigations into China's critical sectors, including electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, and medical devices - in a bid to ease the bloc’s trade deficit with China. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen earlier told reporters after talks with Xi that the European Union was "ready to make full use of trade defence instruments" to defend European economies, but Tangen rejected this. "The overcapacity issue [raised] is completely false," Tangen commented. He said that when Europe and America dominated manufacturing worldwide, they attributed it to market competition and the natural superiority of their products. "Today, as China is able to sell goods and services at a lower rate, all of a sudden it became 'why hasn’t China been watching out for Europe and the US?'" Tangen said. "The fact is, these are developed dominant countries that cannot fulfil their own needs and desires from their own countries. If they weren't buying from China, they would be buying from somewhere else, [so] it’s not going to address their trade deficit." "What the EU should really be concerned about is their competitiveness. What is the future of the EU?" With over half of the world's population heading to vote for new leaders of more than 80 nations over the course of 2024, Tangen expects trade tensions to continue in the short and medium term as policymakers court voters. "Really, communication is absolutely key," Tangen said. "And in the long term it is about people-to-people exchanges. It takes time and you have to be willing to wait and engage." "Concentrating on sports and education, and bringing young people into the play. And this is a very long-term strategy by the Chinese government."