‘Fighting spirit’: Xi Jinping reveals China’s push for global power after rare foreign policy meeting
- World has ‘entered a new period of turbulence and transformation’, Xi says after Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work
- Amid Ukraine war and the Israel-Gaza conflict, China faces strategic opportunities to act as a peace broker and leader of the Global South, says analyst
Beijing has vowed to seize “strategic opportunities” and further raise its “international influence, appeal and power” to shape a rapidly changing world by strengthening Communist Party control of foreign affairs and standing firm against “bullying” and “hegemonism” from the West.
The two-day Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work, which was last held in 2018, was attended by top party leaders such as Politburo members, senior government officials and diplomats, including dozens of Chinese ambassadors, state media reported.
03:23
Xi Jinping says Vietnam is a ‘diplomatic priority’ as Chinese leader seeks closer bilateral ties
Analysts said the timing of the meeting was of particular significance amid signs of socioeconomic headwinds at home and growing international scrutiny and resistance, despite Beijing’s recent efforts to dial down its rancorous rivalry with the US-led West.
In his speech, Xi touted China as a “responsible” global power rising under his head-of-state diplomacy since he took power in 2012 and said China had overcome “various difficulties and challenges” in its external work in the past decade.
But he also warned of “high winds and choppy waters” ahead because the world had “entered a new period of turbulence and transformation” – a thinly veiled reference to China’s feud with the US and its allies over ideological and geopolitical differences.
“China has become a responsible major country with enhanced international influence, stronger capacity to steer new endeavours and greater moral appeal,” he said, according to a report by state news agency Xinhua.
