The Trump-Xi summit exposes a US disadvantage in the Global South

Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington was heavy on pageantry, but the more significant signal for governments across the Global South was Beijing's stated focus on "constructive strategic stability" with the United States. President Donald Trump called the summit a success even as his administration remained engaged in a nearly seven-month US-Israeli war against Iran, pressed allies over trade, asserted power in Latin America, and pushed other nations to isolate China. That gap is most visible in the Gulf, where Iran is China's largest trading partner and Washington wants Chinese help reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which has been shut since the war began in February. Xi's account of the meeting stopped short of committing to pressure Tehran or to any specific steps on the strait, leaving Gulf states positioned to lean on the US militarily while turning to China for diplomacy and energy stability, a role Beijing can fill in part because it is not a combatant in the region's fighting, according to Al Jazeera.

Similar hedging is spreading elsewhere as countries face higher energy costs and trade pressure, even as Washington and Beijing extended their own tariff truce by two months. India keeps buying Russian oil while courting American technology and Chinese investment, Indonesia signs defense deals with both powers, and South Africa and Brazil use BRICS groupings to guard against outcomes decided elsewhere.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Al Jazeera’s reporting. Read the full story at Al Jazeera →