For the past two years, with all the global chaos, I've been pretty impressed with the way the CPC has handled it and I would argue they're the ones on top right now. They pretty much are an embodiment of the fantasy the Hindutva's have of their country of a middle power deftly taking advantage of all the world's conflicts to boost their standing. Only, Hindutvas now live in a country that's lost its only client state in its neighborhood, has rock bottom relations with Canada, and pushed things so far even the US which put India as a linchpin of its Pacific strategy are starting to think of them as more trouble than they're worth. (Actually, not even living in, since many Hindutvas are living and working overseas, go figure)
Chinese geopolitical position right now really does boil down to two most widely shared memes about Chinese decision makers, one being the virtues of patience and the more well known one which is, "Do nothing and win." They often get flak for not responding to global developments fast enough, but sometimes you really do just have to wait and see how things play out and more importantly, ensure the fundamentals of your state remain strong. Afterall, what is an army that flexes with an unsecure baggage train?
And what do you, globally now Democracy has been rendered a joke with political dysfunction in the EU, an attempted coup in South Korea, Philippines barreling towards a showdown between the Marcos and Duterte families, and the next US administration being run by convicted felons, billionaires, and conspiracy theorists. I already touched on India. Meanwhile, Iran, Russia, and NK are being drained by the current wars and as time goes on, they'll just become more and more ripe for expanded Chinese influence.
Amidst all this, the Chinese state learned from its mistakes and weathered the crisis of the past 4 years to ensure China's path of development, although hitting road bumps, remains unimpeded. In retrospect, nothing encapsulates this more than with the CPC's recent push to expand visa access globally. When you're confident in the fundamentals of your state and aware of your enemy's shortcomings, then there really is no game so to speak. Meaning games require active participants and global politics at times has a tendency to just play out on its own, with fortune favoring those who have their house in order rather than those with the clever strategies.
