Abe, Modi, Xi

In 2012, Abe and Xi became new leaders for Japan and China, respectively. Western media overwhelmingly positive on Abe, hailing him as the new leader for Asia to counter China. With accolades and "3 arrows", Abe enjoyed unprecedented spotlight alone for a long time. Media, on the other hand, overwhelmingly negative on Xi, as he was relatively less known and inherited a mess from his weaker predecesors. On their first appearance and for a long time, Xi and team looked timid, as if treading on thin ice, especially for Premier Li, who had dark circles under his eyes for a long time. Recently Li appears much healthier and at ease, with dark circles gone. 

In 2014, Modi was elected as new leader for India. Again Western media was overwhelmingly positive and put him on the pedestal as the new leader for Asia to counter China. With Trump coming into power 2 years later, Modi enjoyed honey-coated treats from the West for 6 years. 

Abe resigned before he could achieve anything meaningful, not even his lifelong pursuit of the wishes of his dying grandfather and mother to revise the constitution. "Three arrows" are broken, economy continues to falter and the country fails to curtain Covid-19 even when the Olympic is coming a month away. 

Current out-of-control Covid-19 situation, with at least 350,000 cases and 3,000 deaths per day, exposes the weakest link in India - Modi himself. First in the height of coronavirus outbreak, Modi gave Trump a welcoming tour of India, exposing hundreds of thousands to the virus, then boasted in production of false cure promoted by Trump, hydroxychloroquine, followed by over-promising to produce vaccines for the world and bragging about vaccine diplomacy against China, held huge political and religious rallies...... Modi leadership miracle is "hit by a storm" thus unraveling like a sand castle ...... now starts blaming the USA for not exporting raw materials for vaccine production......

Only one left standing is Xi, who has been focusing on firm standing on the ground in China, not only contained the biggest coronavirus outbreak, but also put the economy and people's livelihood back on a better footing. 

On 8 July 2022, Abe was killed with a homemade gun by a nobody whose life was ruined by Abe affiliated cult church, exposing Abe's corruption and ties to extremist groups. 

16 November 2022 Xi openly confronted Trudeau for leaking a closed-door meeting content the day before at G20 Indonesia. Significant as it shows China foreign team led by Wang Yi, no longer an inward looking but sophisticated timely machine. World leaders lined up to meet Xi but Biden hogged 3.5 hours overtime, squeezing out time meeting with others. Trudeau begged for a closed-door 10 minutes but leaked to media right away. Next day Trudeau tried to score with domestic audience again by cozying up to Xi, big mistake, fully humiliated in front of the camera!