🇨🇳 Bali was like Versailles reborn, and Xi Jinping was like Louis XIV, the Sun King, surrounded by European leaders vying to have his ray of grace touch them.

Every European leader at the G20 summit wanted to meet face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping after his almost three-year quarantine. But not everyone got the grace.

US President Joe Biden spent three and a half hours with Xi, while the French President had to make do with a (still respectable) 43 minutes.

China has clearly revived its longstanding tactic of courting specific EU countries and their national interests, which it has often used to destabilize Brussels.

Macron desperately needed this airtime with Xi when the Americans and Germans were dominating the headlines.

While #Macron claimed that #Xi agreed with him in "calling for respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine," China's own message made no mention of this, saying only: "#China stands for a ceasefire, an end to the conflict and peace negotiations."