Since the advent of Xi Jinping as the President of the People’s Republic of China in March 2013, China has focused on enlarging its ‘circle of friends’ (中国的“朋友圈” – zhongguo de pengyou quan), and on finally putting an end to the partial diplomatic isolation the country inherited from the Mao and Deng eras. Opposed to the concept of ‘alliances’, Chinese diplomacy has been particularly active in developing a network of partnerships since 2016, taking advantage of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from several multilateral organisations. In recent years, Beijing has often counted on a group of more than 50 countries to support its position at the United Nations (UN) on various sensitive issues – including Hong Kong and Xinjiang.