Illustration: Derek Abella for Bloomberg
It’s Xi Jinping’s World, and Trump Is Just Living in It
As Donald Trump blows up the rules-based order, China is pulling ahead in the global battle for ideas.
On a frigid Alaskan day in March 2021, shortly after Joe Biden took office, top US and Chinese diplomats gathered at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage for a meeting that quickly went off the rails.
Such gatherings usually follow a script: Journalists are let into the room, both sides make a few banal opening comments, and then they get down to business once the cameras are gone. In this case, they engaged in a 71-minute sparring match over the international order, drawn out as translators tried to accurately convey the blunt messaging amid stony, awkward stares by both sides.