tokyo the descriptions that chinas state media rolled out ahead of leader xi jinpings speech tuesday at the annual gathering of world leaders at the united nations were hardly unexpectedthe xinhua news agency lauded him as as a champion of the un ethos and commentaries laid out his expectations and plans as he prepared for virtual meetings with his colleagues at the un general assemblyall of the propaganda was peppered with assertions of chinas long history as a paragon of world cooperation and of xi as a leading voice of reason on the international stagebut scattered clues suggest some unease as china looks to manage its staggering and staggeringly complex military economic and political rise while confronting the aggressive containment strategies of the worlds current superpower the united states and its friends and alliesxi jinping has his work cut out for him at the general assembly said mike mazza a china analyst at the american enterprise institute in washington he pointed to tensions with europe over trade and investment climate and human rights in addition to the trump administrations more consistently confrontational approach to chinaxi has failed to leverage ill feelings between many european leaders and us president donald trump while a potential detente with japan has stalled relations with australia have nosedived over allegations of spying and political manipulation and calls for an investigation into the chinese origins of the coronavirus outbreak mazza saiddespite distancing itself from washington in favor of beijing in recent years the philippines recently backed away from a threat to cancel a key military pact with the united states another setback to beijings push to dominate the regionthese troubles are by and large problems of its own making mazza said of chinaas aggressive as beijing can seem to its neighbors when using its fastexpanding military and powerful economy to carve out what it sees as its natural sphere of influence in asia this is a fragile moment in whats often seen as chinas inevitable rise as a superpowerbeijing has faced criticism over the continuing fallout from the coronavirus pandemic which originated in china late last year some say beijing initially attempted to cover up the outbreak before seeking to take advantage of its response for public relations endstheres outrage over chinas severe restriction of civil rights in hong kong following its imposition on the semiautonomous city of a sweeping national security law and over widespread accusations of mass detentions and cultural genocide against muslims in the xinjiang region and theres wariness also over chinas rising pressure and military threats against taiwan the selfgoverning island democracy that beijing claims as its own territorymeanwhile chinas moves to claim nearly the entire south china sea have led to friction with the united states and with beijings neighbors to the south while a decadeslong border dispute with india erupted this year into deadly brawling between the rivals troops and the firing of shots for the first time in decadesall this has undercut arguments that favor engagement with