Hong Kong(CNN) Xi Jinping has had a busy couple of weeks.

Given that late final month the Chinese leader has hosted heads of state and government chiefs from Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, France and the European Union — an uncommon pace of diplomatic activity that comes as nations appear to Beijing as the worldwide economy sputters in the wake of the pandemic and war in Ukraine.

On Friday, that list grows to involve Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is anticipated to sign a host of bilateral bargains with Xi — and, like many of the leaders just before him, he also arrives with hopes of producing progress toward ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

But for Xi, this revolving door of going to leaders — producing the trip even as Xi has refused to condemn the Russian invasion — is also an chance to assert his vision for a worldwide order not dictated by American guidelines — and push back against perceived threats.

That is specifically urgent for the Chinese leader now, observers say.

3 years of scaled-back diplomacy due to China’s strict Covid-19 controls coupled with financial challenges, entrenched competitors with the United States and increasing European issues about Beijing’s foreign policy have left Xi below stress to act.

“(Chinese leaders) think it is time now for China to make its strategic plans,” mentioned Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“A potentially fantastic outcome is to weaken American alliances … so that is why we’re seeing really strenuous efforts produced by Beijing to attempt to stabilize and strengthen relations with European nations, and also to attempt to strengthen and strengthen cooperation with emerging economies,” he mentioned.

Driving a wedge

As globe leaders return to Beijing in spite of international issues more than the increasing China-Russia partnership and Beijing’s intimidation of Taiwan, Xi has utilised the chance to thread his conversations with veiled criticism of the US and search phrases that signal Xi’s personal view for how to reshape worldwide energy.

Speaking to Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong late final month, Xi stressed that Asian nations collectively should really “firmly oppose bullying, decoupling or severing industrial and provide chains,” though he urged Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to “resolutely resist the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation.”

To Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that exact same day, he warned that the “sound improvement of China-EU relations needs the EU to uphold strategic independence,” according to readouts from the Chinese side.

Beijing has watched uneasily as the war in the Ukraine has driven the US and its European allies closer. Now, analysts say playing up its financial partnerships and exploiting variations involving nations on the two sides of the Atlantic is important.

When French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing final week, Xi drew comparisons involving China and France: each “important nations with a tradition of independence,” Xi mentioned, and “firm advocates for a multi-polar globe” — or a globe without having a dominant superpower.

Immediately after a day of meetings in Beijing, Xi met Macron in the southern industrial hub of Guangzhou to continue an “informal” conversation — sipping tea and listening to the plucked melodies of conventional Chinese music just before a state dinner.

Macron, who has extended advocated for Europe to create an independent geopolitical policy and defense capabilities that needn’t rely on Washington, appeared receptive.

He released a 51-point joint statement with China outlining cooperation on locations from nuclear power to meals safety and told reporters traveling with him that when it comes to the US-China rivalry Europe need to not be “caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from constructing its strategic autonomy,” according to a Politico interview.

Macron’s comments have sparked backlash in Europe and the US, but analysts say they had been most likely noticed as a triumph in Beijing.

“Almost everything that can weaken the US, divide the West and move nations closer to China is fantastic for Xi,” mentioned Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University. “Therefore, Macron’s trip is noticed in Beijing as a important victory.”

Lula’s back

Xi may well be preparing for yet another possible diplomatic win when he meets Lula on Friday.

The leftist Brazilian leader, who ushered in a boom in China-Brazil trade ties through his initially stint in energy some two decades ago, is traveling with a delegation of enterprise leaders, state governors, congressmen and ministers, and anticipated to close a raft of bilateral bargains from agriculture and livestock to technologies.

Lula’s return to energy currently shifts the dynamics of the China-Brazil partnership, which saw tense moments below former leader Jair Bolsonaro, who embraced anti-China rhetoric.

Lula has currently began out his state go to in Shanghai with a nod to Brazil and China cooperation, attending the former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s inauguration as head of the New Improvement Bank of BRICS, the bloc of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that presents an option energy grouping to the Western-centric G7.

“Xi will discover in Lula a BRICS enthusiast, openness to reforms in the worldwide governance method and the want to stay clear of automatic alignment with the US,” mentioned Luiza Duarte, a analysis fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Research in Washington.

Meanwhile, Lula’s anticipated warm welcome in Beijing “raises comparison with his frustrating much less than 24-hour go to to Washington,” she mentioned, referring to the Brazilian leader’s February ten go to to the White Residence.

The meeting was noticed at the time as a important outreach from the newly inaugurated Lula to the US.

But Beijing may well use the “lack of deliverables” from that meeting “to position itself as a extra attractive option for bilateral cooperation,” mentioned Duarte.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures at the inauguration of the President of the New Improvement Bank, Dilma Rousseff in Shanghai, China, April 13, 2023.

Ukraine query

Looming more than diplomacy in Beijing is the Russian assault in Ukraine.

Some leaders — like Macron — have viewed Xi, a close pal and diplomatic companion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as a possible ally that could enable push Putin toward peace.

But their partnership has also raised concern, with US officials earlier this year warning that China was contemplating offering the Kremlin with lethal help — a claim Beijing has denied.

Whilst France and China agreed to many points connected to the war in their meeting — like opposition to attacks on nuclear energy plants and the protection of girls and young children — Macron did not eventually push Xi to commit on paper to any position China has not currently publicly mentioned.

Brazil, in advance of Lula’s trip, has provided yet another view: building — as the country’s foreign minister place it — “a group of mediator nations” like China.

But how Beijing navigates these initiatives, observers say, comes down to a bottom line that is integrally connected to Xi’s worldwide ambitions and globe view.

“It will be complicated for China to respond positively to some of the requests produced by either the Americans or Europeans, due to the fact undertaking this would create the danger of producing the Russians upset,” mentioned Li in Singapore.

“Russia is the only important energy that shares a lot of (China’s) views on how the globe and the worldwide method should really appear and how different political challenges should really be handled. Russia is irreplaceable for China,” he mentioned.

That point was highlighted in yet another moment on Xi’s current diplomatic agenda: his travel to Moscow in March for his personal state go to — the initially considering that he stepped into a third presidential term that exact same month.

And though China’s diplomacy — and bargains — in the previous week may well not have been heavily impacted by the optics of that partnership — analysts say how Beijing handles the conflict will continue to influence views on China globally.

Perceptions about Xi’s possible influence more than Putin have offered “leverage that enables (Xi) to get a lot of consideration, and possibly get mileage and help that he would otherwise not have,” mentioned Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore.

“Eventually, the test will come down to no matter whether Xi is essentially capable to exert any actual influence on Putin, specifically in terms of ceasing the war,” he mentioned.

CNN’s Tatiana Arias contributed reporting.