China’s Eurasia Strategy May Deliver Beijing Its Coup de Main
Commentary
Xi Jinping may be close to achieving a coup de main that would increase Beijing’s dominance over Eurasia, the Middle East, and Africa. Provided, that is, Beijing itself can retain cohesion and control at home in the face of economic collapse and impending food and water shortages.
People’s Republic of China (PRC) leader Xi Jinping followed his ground-breaking visit to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (December 7-10, 2022) with a major Middle East breakthrough in March 2023 … and the likelihood that Beijing could provide the fig-leaf excuse for talks to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
This is no longer your grandfather’s Cold War. The Eurasian bloc built around the PRC, Russia, and Iran has access to a far wider selection of global nations than the Soviet bloc had during Cold War I. Beijing will need this broader trading canvas, and the increasing ability to trade in the PRC’s yuan, rather than in U.S. dollars, if it is to rebuild its economy and get immediate access to food and energy from the outside world….