Trump & Xi, Carry on Westminster, the french pivot

3 hours ago 1

In a week that’s seen the world’s superpowers take centre stage with President Trump in Beijing for the first state visit of a US leader in almost a decade. With tensions over trade, technology and Taiwan, what stayed tacitly implied was the deeper, more difficult question of whether the two alpha powers of world order can share the 21st Century, or, is a confrontation ultimately unavoidable?

President Xi has long indicated he wants China to be the number one military, economic and political force by 2049. But it was flattery and fanfare, smiles and waves, boys, in the Great Hall of the People. President Trump HAD vowed to make China pay for, quote, “ripping us off like no one has ever done before.” But after a banquet of Beijing roast duck and crispy beef ribs, Trump toasted his great rival with the words “You’re a great leader. I say it to everybody.” But on the question of Taiwan, no comment:

It’s been a week of Will-They-Won’t-They, watch and wait in Westminster as a leadership challenge seemed likely against the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a week on from the worst local election result in history for the governing Labour Party. Starmer dug his heels in while rumours spread of cabinet unrest and private calls for him to go. Downing Street insisted bigger issues were at hand than party navel-gazing, like Iran and Ukraine. But once the pomp of the King’s Speech was over, including a heckle of “Not now Andy!”, as Black Rod knocked to enter Parliament, it was back to the question of political succession: will it be Wes, Angela, or aforementioned Andy knocking at the Downing Street door? Well, Wes Streeting resigned from cabinet, and with Angela Rayner looking to be back in the frame, for Andy Burnham it’s a question of plotting a route back to Parliament, while the carry on continues:

It’s been a week where President Macron has been on the move in Africa, jogging through the streets of Alexandria, and taking morning runs in Nairobi with an Olympic marathon champion. Playing football in the Kenyan capital too, living his best life according to the French paper Libération. He’ll need to master the diplomatic equivalent of the Cruyff Turn, to succeed in his quest to pivot French interests from its former colonies, to carving out a new sphere of relevance in anglophone Africa, where he was playing co-host at the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya, and investing 14 billion euros, an ambitious reorientation in a fiercely competitive market dominated by China. There are new partnerships to be had, if only they’d listen.

Produced by Gavin Lee, Andrew Hilliar, Daniel Whittington, Emmanuel Miculita, Alessandro Xenos.

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