As Beijing gears up for a major charm offensive to endear the West, expect no genuine change from the Chinese Communist Party—only “more cunning,” analysts warn. In late May, Chinese leader Xi Jinping convened a “study session,” telling top communist officials to make it a priority to create a “trustworthy, lovable, and respectable Chinese image.” That, according to Xi, requires them to “widen their circle of friends,” “win over the majority,” and “pay attention to the strategy and art of narrative warfare” so that on key issues they can make themselves heard. They must set the tone right to present themselves as both “open and confident, yet modest and humble,” said Xi. The communist leader’s speech was a call to arms directed at the officialdom, said Sydney-based academic Feng Chongyi. “He’s waging a war of words to control global narratives,” Feng, a China studies professor at the University of Technology, …