Chinese President Xi Jinping met Sunday with leaders from Poland and Pakistan in a flurry of diplomacy on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
Xi told President Andrzej Duda that China seeks to further improve ties with Poland, whose warm relationship with Beijing has not sat well with main rival the United States.
Poland was the only European Union nation to send an elected leader to the Games despite a U.S.-led diplomatic boycott. The meeting also comes amid concerns over a potential Russian attack on Ukraine, with which NATO member Poland shares a lengthy border.
Xi, who has not left China since 2019, has met a range of world leaders over recent days, including President Vladimir Putin of Russia, with which China is building a closer informal alliance.
The meetings highlight Xi’s moves to elevate himself as a major player in world diplomacy, while positioning China’s single party authoritarian political model as an alternative to the long-dominant liberal world order led by the United States.
