Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s trip to Europe from 5 to 9 May this year was remarkable in many ways. It was the first since his last trip to Europe five years ago, which included a visit to France. However, President Xi has already travelled to the continent twice since assuming top positions in the Chinese government and party, and before the aforementioned (2019) trip.

It should be recalled that the main content of the second of these trips, which took place in January 2017, was a keynote speech at the Davos Forum, in which the leader of the already virtually established second global power outlined his vision of the most preferable scenario for the development of world processes. Its ultimate goal should have been the formation of a “Community of Common Destiny” in which each of its participants would feel quite comfortable.

However, almost immediately after the Chinese leader’s next tour of Europe (which, let us repeat, took place in March 2019), a number of negative phenomena of a global scale appeared, strangely superimposed on each other. Such as the “Covid-19 pandemic”, the sharp deterioration of the global economic organism and the deterioration of the political situation in general. The latter, in particular, took the form of local military conflicts that broke out in various regions of the world. All this should generally be seen as signs (perhaps “tools”) of a radical reformatting of the world order.

Some of the intermediate results of this global process are already visible today. In particular, the category of the “generalised West” is becoming increasingly ephemeral. Both in general and in its main components, which still include Europe. The question of what is meant when the word “Europe” is uttered is becoming increasingly relevant. Moreover, it is not entirely clear what is meant by the individual countries that are still included (rather, let us repeat, by inertia) in the “generalised West”. Moreover, this ambiguity does not only apply to the United States, which is on the verge of civil war.

What, for example, is the current German government? On the one hand, Chancellor Olaf Scholz shows his desire to develop relations with China. But the head of his own Foreign Ministry is not tired........

© New Eastern Outlook