Xi wants China to be 'lovable' - it doesn't mean he's making nice

Chinese President Xi Jinping arriving for the opening session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing in March. PHOTO: REUTERS

(NYTIMES) China's top diplomats have castigated their American counterparts for hypocrisy and condescension. They icily reminded Europeans of the continent's experience with genocide. They just accused New Zealand, a country that had been careful not to cause offence, of "gross interference" in China's affairs.

So when China's top leader, Mr Xi Jinping, told senior Communist Party officials last week that they should improve their communication with the rest of the world, some analysts suggested he was acknowledging that China's increasingly pugnacious approach to diplomacy in recent months had not been warmly received.

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