I just read through the article, that isn't an overnight big diplomacy shift, but rather a better description of what's happening in the recent years. What I see here:
1. To US:- Opposing and defending against your shenanigans remains our top priority, but lets agree to keep things sort of under the table. We don't want any open conflict.
- We still need your capital for the time being, and technical know-how (until we copy all of it or can innovate better than you)
- The unsaid: If you really want to mess with us, please go fuck with Russia instead. We would rather spend time on developing than fighting you.
2. To the West: "You are in decline, so we are done trying to appease you. We no longer need to pretend to care about your human right rants, because they are boring, stale, and we have better things to worry about. Don't worry, you can keep buying our cheap stuff."
China figured out the best use of their focus is to develop bilateral relations with (or dominating) the surrounding Asian countries, Russia, and the global south in general. For obvious reasons:
- They don't hate us that much.
- They have tons of untapped resources.
- They are less aligned with the West.
- They need the technologies and infrastructures that we can provide.
Interestingly, they didn't mention anything about the rivalry with Japan and to a lesser extent, India. Personally I believe the Chinese leadership want to warm up to both countries in accordance to their Pan Asian focus.
- Pro-japan articles are allowed to appear occasionally in nationalist websites, which means the authority intends to silently curb the Japan hate.
- China is annoyed with Pakistan's terrorist problem, because some of it is spilling into Xinjiang. It also seems that Pakistan isn't that interested (or able) to develop itself. At this point, their most important value is as leverage against India: 1-undermining their capability to encircle China (As US intends), and 2-to encircle India back (If needed). But economically, India is much better investment. On the other end, Modi is also warming relations up with China as with the recent visits.
A point I wanted to add: This fits pretty well with Rei's outlook and perdictions on Asia. So, well done Rei
Society changes, politics changes, no ideology should remain stationary.