Xi in Europe and the TikTok ban

Taking stock of decoupling. MAY 7, 2024  |  [VIEW IN BROWSER](  |  [SUBSCRIBE](     French President Emmanuel Macron walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping after inspecting an honor guard during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 6, 2023. Ng Han Guan/Getty Images Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Europe this week, and the reception he receives there will likely be much different from when he last visited five years ago. “European attitudes toward China have soured significantly,” [writes]( FP’s Christina Lu, “fueled by deepening trade divisions and frustrations over Beijing’s expanded economic and military cooperation with Moscow in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.” Given this, what does Xi hope to achieve on his European tour? He wants to mend ties, Lu reports, blunt Europe’s push to “de-risk” from his country—and push to take advantage of diverging interests with Washington, especially ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year. That election, and the possibility of foreign interference in it, was one of the main arguments behind the bill signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden in April [forcing]( the Chinese company ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a ban of the popular social media platform. In his argument “[Washington Keeps Choosing the Wrong Moment to Challenge China](,” Andrei Lungu argues that the threatened ban will wind up incentivizing Chinese interference, not minimizing it—and that this poor timing and lack of follow-through characterizes Washington’s recent handling of China. In fact, Lungu writes, “it is difficult to look at this entire seven-year process”—since decoupling first appeared as a buzzword—“and find something that worked well.” In “[Nobody Is Competing With the U.S. to Begin With](,” Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute goes one step further, declaring that U.S. officials’ obsession with the threat posed by China and Russia to American global primacy is not just leading to a series of blunders but is rather a “serious strategic miscalculation.” Lieven argues that the issues bedeviling relations between the U.S. and its two main foes are actually local ones, and that Washington should consider making a “tactical withdrawal” from them. One other dynamic to note in all of this is that Xi’s visit to Europe comes on the heels of two U.S. diplomatic missions to China. How should we read the recent surge in high-level engagement? Subscribers can catch FP’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal, [in conversation with Evan Medeiros](, the former China director in the U.S. National Security Council, on whether this flurry of diplomacy is a sign that Beijing is trying to stabilize ties with the West. Follow along this week as we bring you the analysis you need on Xi’s Europe trip and more.—Amelia Lester, executive editor   Know more of the world for less. [Save up to 50% on Annual plans today.](   New and Noteworthy - When AI decides: A recent investigation uncovered how the Israel Defense Forces has been using AI-driven systems to fulfill its goal of a total destruction of Hamas. 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By Robbie Gramer, Jack Detsch [People walk past an advertisement featuring the TikTok logo at a train station in Zhengzhou, China, on Jan. 21. ]( [Washington Keeps Choosing the Wrong Moment to Challenge China]( The TikTok ban shows how decisions end up rushed—after being ignored. By Andrei Lungu [A New Age of Empires]( What makes a modern empire, from Russia to cyberspace. By Chloe Hadavas [How Iran’s Attack Could Change Israeli Strategy]( The April 14 missile barrage showed Israel that it cannot prevail against Iran on its own. By Azriel Bermant [‘Russia Feels Like They’re Winning’](A top House Democrat gets real on Ukraine, Israel, and China. By Robbie Gramer, Jack Detsch [Washington Keeps Choosing the Wrong Moment to Challenge China](The TikTok ban shows how decisions end up rushed—after being ignored. By Andrei Lungu [A New Age of Empires](What makes a modern empire, from Russia to cyberspace. 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