TOKYO -- Across China, big signboards are being raised to promote one of President Xi Jinping's recent favorite political slogans. It calls for mankind to build a "community with a shared future."

Chinese President Xi Jinping's wooing of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has infuriated the U.S. (Nikkei montage/Getty Images)
Italian port city of Trieste is the latest flash point in a battle for hegemony