China’s leader Xi Jinping is embarking on his busiest foreign travel schedule in more than seven years, partly aiming to convince countries that Beijing offers a better model of global leadership than the United States.
This month, Xi Jinping will visit Kyrgyzstan and Egypt and is expected to attend the BRICS summit hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Following these visits, he plans to travel to Washington in late September to meet with President Donald Trump in an effort to preserve the trade truce between the two countries.
The last time Xi Jinping was this active abroad was in mid-2019, when he visited five countries, including North Korea. The current surge in foreign travel is particularly notable as the Chinese leader has in recent years reduced his overseas visits, opting instead to host foreign leaders in Beijing. These trips come as China positions itself as a predictable partner in trade and investment.
This stands in stark contrast to the policies of the Trump administration, which is waging a campaign against Iran, controls a significant portion of Venezuelan oil after the seizure of its leader, and has strained relations with old allies, including Canada, over trade disputes.
Diplomatic influence and global leadership
«This tour will allow Xi to arrive in Washington after demonstrating China’s diplomatic capabilities in Eurasia and the Global South,» said Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow in Chinese studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. «In this sense, Xi will come to Washington not just as one of the leaders in bilateral negotiations, but as a leader demonstrating strength and the existence of alternative options.»
Xi Jinping is currently in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where, in addition to meeting with President Sadyr Japarov, he is also attending a session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Beijing views the SCO as an important platform for advancing its policies and building influence among various countries, particularly in the Central Asia region, where Moscow previously dominated.
Speaking on Tuesday at the SCO session, Xi Jinping made a veiled jab at the United States, calling on major powers «to set an example in upholding international rules and the rule of law, as well as to cooperate in addressing global challenges,» according to the official Xinhua news agency.
«The overwhelming majority of countries do not support power politics, do not want conflict and confrontation, and do not wish to remain closed off and backward. Instead, they seek to secure an equal place in the world through their own development and international cooperation,» he said.
In addition to meeting with Narendra Modi in Bishkek, Xi Jinping will also hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. These discussions will give him the opportunity to gain more insight into the course of the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Xi Jinping’s trips highlight several key elements of what Beijing sometimes calls «Xi-plomacy.» This approach places significant emphasis on personal meetings, developing ties with neighboring countries, and active engagement with Global South nations such as Egypt—Africa’s second-largest economy.
Responding to questions about Xi Jinping’s trips, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gao Jiakun stated that «head-of-state diplomacy is the highest form of Chinese diplomacy.» He added that China seeks «to expand practical cooperation in various fields» through these contacts.
White House meeting and AI competition
Xi Jinping’s travels this month will ultimately take him to the White House for an expected meeting with Trump. The summit will give the leaders an opportunity to keep bilateral relations on track, as they appear to face tests almost daily. As a recent example, this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would push for Group of 20 countries to review their trade terms with China.
The packed itinerary will also give Xi Jinping the opportunity to offer countries Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that match U.S. counterparts in performance but cost significantly less. China wants countries around the world to use its models and purchase AI computing power in the form of tokens, seeing this as a new revenue stream—similar to electric vehicles now appearing on roads worldwide and solar energy technologies.
Xi Jinping’s trip to Egypt comes as Huawei Technologies Co. has applied to build AI data centers in Cairo, showcasing its global ambitions in chips. These efforts mirror the strategy Huawei used to become the world’s leading supplier of telecommunications equipment: a small initial project is intended to help the company establish a foothold in a key market.
Huawei’s plans have raised concerns in the United States, prompting Washington officials to begin working on a counterproposal for Egypt.
«It’s clear that both Washington and Beijing know they cannot convince each other to use American or Chinese AI services and products, so the competition for AI business is spreading globally,» said George Chen, a partner and head of the digital practice at The Asia Group, a Washington-based consulting firm. «The two heads of state, Xi Jinping and Trump, are now the top salesmen promoting their countries’ AI technologies,» Chen added.
Source: Bloomberg
