Xi Jinping's attempt to appease the neoliberal hyenas

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The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has made recently some impressive statements, through which, he could be easily considered one of the most zealous supporters of neoliberal fundamentalism.

As china.org.cn reports:

President Xi Jinping and his Swiss counterpart, Doris Leuthard, have both expressed strong political will to advocate an open economy and oppose protectionism, shortly before Xi's arrival in Switzerland.

Xi published a signed article on Friday in Neue Zuercher Zeitung, a leading Swiss daily newspaper, in which he spoke highly of Switzerland's support for internationalization of the renminbi, its participation in the founding of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and mutual visa exemption for diplomatic passport holders. "We may actively explore the possibility of upgrading the Free Trade Agreement and set a good example of promoting a free and open international trade and investment system," Xi said in the article.

[...]

Leuthard, the Swiss Confederation president, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily on Thursday that Xi shares her philosophy that openness and inclusiveness are necessary to bring win-win results for the countries. "Only openness and an open economy can have better results, and nowadays we cannot avoid going global," Leuthard said in Bern, the Swiss capital. "We fight against protectionism, and President Xi shares the same values and philosophy."

As a first thought, we could say that these statements are compatible with China's efforts to stabilize its position as a global economic power. Xi Jinping's statements coincide with an era in which China is breaking rapidly its traditional isolationism, in order to dominate in the economic field, worldwide.

But it's much more than that. The first goal of Xi Jinping is to find allies among the Western neoliberal environment, as he sees that Donald Trump will be extremely hostile against China and that he will seek excuses to bring more tension in South China Sea. The statements of Jinping's Swiss counterpart above, are a small sample of what Jinping can achieve on this matter.

The second, and probably most important goal of the Chinese president, is to send some signals to the US big capital that China is willing to play by the rules of the neoliberal establishment. China will be open for further opportunities and investments under free market rules, with increasingly less interference from the Chinese state. He probably hopes that, in this way, may "buy" some peace from the US plutocracy - a significant component of the US deep state - in order to think twice before using Trump to provoke a dangerous conflict.

It seems that Putin has already "bought" some peace, and this is probably an extra reason of being treated so friendly by Trump. According to documents reviewed by The Intercept, ExxonMobil under its CEO Rex Tillerson frequently pressed the U.S. State Department for help in negotiating complex business deals and overcoming foreign opposition to its drilling projects.

Specifically concerning Russia, “Exxon Mobil asked the U.S. ambassador to press the Russians to approve a major drilling program, noting that a 'warming of U.S.-Russian relations' overall would also help the company.”

Putin may have thought that giving access to some oil resources to the largest US oil company, could break up the US plutocratic front, in order to reduce the pressure on Russia.

It is also interesting that, as it seems, similar pressure was exercised on Indonesia concerning a major gas field in the South China Sea: “in Indonesia, the State Department acted as a advocate for Exxon Mobil during contentious negotiations between the firm and the Indonesian government over a major gas field in the South China Sea;”

This could explain to some point why the US want to get rid of China from the South China Sea. Recall that, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state and former ExxonMobil Corp. chief, Rex Tillerson, stated recently that "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that first the island-building stops and second your access to those islands is also not going to be allowed."

China, of course, will never give up the South China Sea, as it is considered extremely vital for its geopolitical interests. So instead, the Chinese president, through his statements, invited the Western capital to China, offering almost unlimited access to one of the biggest and rapidly growing markets, hoping to "buy" some peace, like Putin did through the resources.

Besides, China has already made a move towards the Western neoliberal monopoly through the entrance of yuan to the club of the Western hard currencies, risking to sacrifice the creation of an alternative to dollar, through Russia and BRICS.