Xi visits Europe, seeking strategic opportunity

PARIS - On his first visit to Europe in five years, Chinese President Xi Jinping appears intent on seizing opportunities to loosen the continent's bonds with the United States and forge a world freed of American dominance.

The Chinese leader has chosen three countries to visit - France, Serbia and Hungary - that all, to a greater or lesser degree, look askance at America's postwar ordering of the world, see China as a necessary counterweight and are eager to bolster economic ties.

At a time of tensions with much of Europe - over China's "no limits" embrace of Russia despite the war in Ukraine, its surveillance state and its apparent espionage activities that led to the recent arrest in Germany of four people - Xi, who arrived in France on Sunday, wants to demonstrate China's growing influence on the continent and pursue a pragmatic rapprochement.

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