-Analysis-
PARIS — It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a photo that is worth much more: It was taken on Monday in Tianjin, the Chinese port city located east of Beijing. It shows Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi, the leaders of China, Russia and India, shaking hands and seemingly in high spirits.
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We need to pause and reflect on this photo, which tells us a lot about the way the world is changing, but also about the staging of international relations. These men lead three nuclear superpowers and represent more than a third of the world’s population, with very different cultures and histories. Their countries have even been at war with one another in the past.
But on Monday, they chose to stage this shared cheerfulness, whatever their ulterior motives. The photo needs no caption; it says everything about the person absent from the picture: U.S. President Donald Trump, of course. The scene is addressed to him: best wishes from Tianjin.
A simple message
Why this need for staging? Recall the Trump-Zelensky meeting in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, which turned into a humiliation for the Ukrainian president. At the end, Trump said, “It makes for good television.” The images from Tianjin are the same; they make for good television, which is more effective than long speeches.
The “front of opposition” on display in Tianjin paints a picture that contrasts sharply with the bullying tactics of the Oval Office. Trump seeks to humiliate his counterparts, while the leaders gathered in Tianjin appear to be calling for an alternative world order that respects sovereignty. It is a ploy, but Trump is so much of a caricature that he automatically legitimizes his opponents.
What is at stake is the new balance of power between the empires of the 21st century.
During his first term, Trump appeared alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his “great friend,” in a stadium filled with thousands of U.S. residents of Indian descent. The 50% tariffs imposed on India have shattered this idyllic image of friendship, which had been a political asset for Modi in India.
In Tianjin, the three men are all smiles, and it almost makes you forget that one has invaded his neighbor, the second has a totalitarian regime, and the third is on the path to certain illiberalism. It’s just a photo, but the message is simple and effective.
Where this leaves Europe
But this is more than just a communications battle: what is at stake is the new balance of power between the empires of the 21st century. Trump wanted to strike a major blow to reimpose America’s contested role as a global leader, and he is using the weapons at his disposal: tariffs, the technological power of Silicon Valley, and the world’s leading military.
In doing so he has created a motley “front of opposition” against him, with China and its economic power at its center seeing the opportunity to emerge as the leader of the non-Western world. This is Trump’s mistake: He has pushed all those he wants to subjugate into China’s arms by humiliating them.
That leaves Europe, which is trapped in its alliance with the United States because of the war on its doorstep: it has not yet demonstrated its ability to offer a “third path” capable of opposing both Trump’s approach and the one emerging from Tianjin.
