ABSTRACT
Heralded as the most powerful leader since Mao himself, Xi Jinping’s power over China has only grown since 2012. Meanwhile, the relations between the status-quo power the United States (US) and ‘revisionist’ China, while shaping the trajectory of present day international order, have also moulded into the biggest challenge of the century. Concurrently, the US–China relation holds the key to what the future of the international order of the twenty-first century and beyond will look like. Aiming to provide a holistic understanding of Xi’s US outreach since becoming the country’s president in 2013, this chapter will focus on highlighting the trajectory of US–China relations from the erstwhile Barack Obama administration to the present day Donald Trump administration. Having dealt with two significantly different US leaders, the chapter will highlight Xi’s global ambitions, international initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the age of the Indo-Pacific and increasing hostility between the two powers, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter will analyse the future awaiting US–China ties with a shift from ‘post-Cold War’ to ‘post-coronavirus’ terminology being a defining factor and focus on understanding how Xi plans to out manoeuvre US’s anti-China rhetoric internationally while consolidating power domestically.
