If leadership diplomacy was an Olympic sport, Beijing beats Washington to the gold medal and it’s not just about business, says this observer.
WASHINGTON DC: In April, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga became the first foreign leader to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House. Suga’s trip marked the return of leader-level travel to Washington after the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, despite Biden’s early invitation to Suga, the United States trails China significantly in attracting world leaders to its shores. That’s according to a new dataset counting visits to the two countries by foreign heads of state and government from 1990–2019. Beijing is the hot ticket for the world’s politicos. In 2019, the year before COVID-19 halted most travel, 79 foreign leaders visited China, while only 27 called on the United States. More world leaders have visited China than the United States in every year since 2013, a sharp turnaround from the American dominance of the early post-Cold War era.
A few more White House invitations for leaders in Africa, Asia, and South America would certainly help. Then travel to China exploded. In the 2010s, compared to the United States, China received more than triple the number of visits by Asian and Oceanian leaders, more than double the number by African leaders, and almost double the number by Eastern European leaders.
Yet China’s economy was 30 per cent smaller than the US economy in 2019, while China attracted almost double the visits by world leaders, suggesting that business alone does not explain this gap.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why We Need To Teach Our Kids To Take On Invisible Labor In The HouseholdMany of us, myself included until a couple of years ago, neglect to teach our kids the invisible labor of figuring out what needs to be done.
Read more »
Why Crocs are here to stay... for nowAfter years of ridicule, Crocs are now a must-have item of the womenswear wardrobe, sported even by some of the world's biggest icons. And it has to be said that the brand knows how to surround itself with top names in fashion, making its famous clogs ultra desirable. The latest example lands in the form of a new collaboration with Chinese brand Sankuanz, which is likely to attract new fans around the world.
Read more »
Why are some people hesitant about being vaccinated?In order to understand why some people refuse to get vaccinated or put off getting their first injection, a Polish study looked at their arguments. While the researchers are fairly pessimistic about convincing anti-vaxxers to change their minds and get a covid-19 vaccine, they recommend focusing efforts on people who are undecided about vaccination.
Read more »