Before his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January, Xi Jinping’s advisers presented him with four drafts of a speech for the annual gathering of global elites.

According to two people familiar with the Chinese president’s preparations, Mr Xi chose to give the softest version, presenting China as an environmentally friendly champion of globalisation and free trade. He was speaking just days before President Donald Trump celebrated pulling the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact that pointedly excluded China.

Beijing has since rushed to secure what Chinese officials call the “strategic opportunity” arising from Mr Trump’s election victory, by accelerating efforts to repair long-strained relations with two traditional US allies in the region, the Philippines and Japan. China has offered Manila generous infrastructure deals and taken steps to attract new investment by Japanese multinationals.