Let's not pretend world politics ever had a single shred of morality to it from the get go. It's all just leverage and gains. China is no different. I don't see why China has to lose on softpower and profit due to some people's subjective sense of moral superiority.
Morality is what you can afford to have. If everything is going well and you either maintain a powerful dominant status or see your coronation date drawing nearer, you are likely to behave very honorably like China is doing. If you see everything you built being torn down and your challenger running you over from behind, you are first likely to try everything within your moral boundaries, then expand those boundaries, and so on until you declare that anything goes: theft, betrayal, robbery, rape, murder, genocide, they are all justified if it can prevent the evil of your challenger from winning. And right now, that is the US.
Its cute they think its only delayed.
It's delayed until Takaichi's term is over and the next guy bulldozes the Yasukuni shrine and comes to Nanjing to lick the ground. And it can't be that guy who drank a spoonful of water off the ground in Fukushima either; it has to be someone who
doesn't like eating shit off the floor!
There is a fundamental misunderstanding on China’s part as to what they think a state visit is for and what westerners think it’s for. To China, these visits are typically thought of as reinforcing and expanding relationships and friendships with other countries. An opportunity to bond. For westerners, these visits are only pomp and circumstance to demonstrate their own importance in front of their own populace and the rest of the world and maybe and opportunity to enact or pry out some kind of advantage whilst in the host country. Parasitic thinking. Should China start considering more the perspective of who they are dealing with and adjusting more instead of trying to push through “win-win” type offers that will always get taken advantage of and never reciprocated?
LMFAO, this fucker came to China smiling like the edges of his mouth were stapled, went on jogs in the park, ran to a meet and greet with students, and even brought Felix Lebrun with him to play some doubles table tennis. Then he begged Xi for some technological cooperation because according to him, France is now the developing country compared to China... except it isn't even able to develop. I bet you he didn't even dare say that shit to Xi or his trip would not have been so pleasant. When he's back home doing his post trip news interview is the first time Xi heard him say anything that sounded like a threat.