The west is trying to understand China, but don’t expect trust | Natalie Nougayrède

Reading President Xi's mind has become a staple of international relations and global power-plays

It is an old Chinese adage inherited from Sun Tzu, the philosopher and war strategist who is believed to have lived in the sixth century BC or thereabouts: if you want to win a hundred battles, you need to understand your adversary, and you need to understand yourself.

This week in Washington a group of foreign policy and security experts discussed China's rise and the challenges it brings. Much of this discussion, at the event held by the Carnegie Endowment, revolved around trying to read its current leader's mind. After all, President Xi Jinping is described as the most powerful Chinese ruler since Deng Xiaoping, who led the country towards reform in the 1980s.

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