Trump, Xi, Putin and the strongman race

The Chinese leader is ending the year in a better position than his American and Russian counterparts.

- Gideon Rachman

"I’ve never seen men so scared." That was Mr Donald Trump’s amused verdict after observing Mr Xi Jinping’s intimidating effect on the Chinese leader’s entourage, at a recent meeting. “I want my cabinet to behave like that,” joked the US president.

Mr Trump’s return to the Oval Office has signalled a revival of the strongman style in global politics. Bilateral meetings between powerful, headstrong leaders increasingly shape the international agenda. Multilateral summits such as the UN General Assembly, the G-20 or the COP climate summit are dwindling in significance.

Both Mr Trump and Mr Xi skipped the recent G-20 summit in South Africa. It was an international conference that would have forced them to share the spotlight with leaders of smaller nations. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia also gave the G-20 summit a miss, as did Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Mr Putin finds it hard to travel these days. But that has not stopped him from enjoying a few set-piece summits this year, which allowed him to present himself as the honoured leader of a great power. He will be in New Delhi this week to meet Mr Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister. He strolled through Beijing with Mr Xi and Mr Kim Jong Un of North Korea in September. The previous month, he met Mr Trump in Alaska.