Some Chinese analysts argued that China’s refusal to budge in the face of U.S. pressure commanded a certain geopolitical deference.

America’s allies need to “diversify the risk of their dependence on the United States,” said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. “Naturally, they chose China.”

“China’s might has won respect,” he said. “China’s stance has won respect.”

Beijing has been quick to capitalize on this opening. Mr. Trump’s aggressive maneuvers — like tariffs and military strikes in Venezuela, the Middle East and Africa — have allowed Beijing to cast itself, however improbably, as a defender of the rules-based order, the global trading system and a leader of the Global South.