In just over 10 days, China has hosted a series of high-level visitors from Thailand, Spain, the UAE, Vietnam, Russia and Mozambique. The visit of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani to Beijing challenges the long-held notion of exclusive loyalty to Washington, according to Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. He says, "China, to the surprise of many Western analysts, is now becoming also a beacon of diplomatic stability."