Why Xi Jinping May Be Playing the Long Game With Donald Trump

Traditional American allies have come to see the US as an unreliable partner under President Donald Trump. Now they’re looking to hedge their bets by way of China, and just as President Xi Jinping positions his nation as the “adult in the room.” Most recently, the US-Israel war with Iran has upended relationships between Washington and Europe while being the latest complicating factor in any attempt to stabilize relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

China has called on all parties to cease military operations in the war—it has a vested interest in seeing the conflict end, given how much it ...