China's renewed focus on national security and growing rivalry with the US could lead to a new era of isolation from the West as many observers query the country's motives, analysts said. Since it lifted pandemic controls that shut its borders since 2020, Beijing has taken a series of seemingly conflicting diplomatic and business measures. The apparent mixed messaging is a result of President Xi Jinping's focus on national security and frosty relations with rival superpower the US. “The stark reality in China … is that security now trumps everything, from economy to diplomacy,” said Alfred Wu from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. This focus is exacerbating a divergence in China's diplomatic relations and its economic plans, as it seeks to assert its authority on key geopolitical issues while appearing to close up to the outside world, he said.
