Hong Kong, April 1 -- "Going with China is going with opportunities. Believing in China is believing in tomorrow. Investing in China is investing in the future," Chairman Xi Jinping told a group of more than 40 foreign business executives in a meeting in Beijing on March 28, 2025.

Xi is positioning China as a stable force for good and a land of opportunity, holding out an olive branch for foreign businesses and governments. Compared to the chaos that US President Donald Trump is leaving behind as he divisively implements his "America first" policy, China might appear as a relatively stable alternative--to the gullible, at least.

Since 2017, one of China's central arguments has been that it is a responsible power upholding the status quo...