The Wall Street Journal reports:

The leaders of three of the world’s four most powerful nations will meet in China this weekend to discuss how to react to the upending of the international order wrought by the fourth: the U.S. under President Trump.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently being wooed by Washington, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country—long cultivated by the U.S. as a centerpiece of its aspirations to contain Beijing—has just been slapped by punitive American tariffs.

They will be joined by several other national leaders, including those from Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan, at a summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin that starts Sunday and aims to showcase Beijing’s global economic and political clout.

Putin and some of these guests will then stand alongside Xi, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, and the presidents from countries as far afield as Cuba and Zimbabwe, to watch the Sept. 3 military parade in Beijing. The event will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan in World War II—or, as China calls it, the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance.

The parade will also provide Xi with the opportunity to exhibit the sophisticated modern weaponry that China has developed for a potential war against the U.S.

Viewed from Beijing, the timing for this choreographed diplomatic fest couldn’t be more opportune. Though little of substance is likely to come out of this multiday summitry, images matter. World leaders are flocking to China just as the Trump administration has frustrated Washington’s allies and partners, particularly in Asia, by imposing stiff trade tariffs while seeking an opening to Russia. Washington’s unpredictable foreign policy has also fueled doubts about the reliability of U.S. security commitments overseas.

“The U.S. is helping China to increase its global influence. China may suffer economically because of the tariffs, but politically, China is gaining more sympathy and more support from other countries, and not just in the Global South,” said Xinbo Wu, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. “We now certainly face less diplomatic pressure than we did under the Biden administration.” [Continue reading…]