Xi’s diplomatic blitz casts new light on China’s foreign policy

In less than a week, Chinese President Xi Jinping has held bilateral talks with leaders from more than 20 countries during two high-profile events – the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the northern port city of Tianjin and the Victory Day commemoration in Beijing.

The themes of the talks have shed more light on China’s engagement with partners as Beijing casts itself as a champion of a multipolar global order and forges closer economic cooperation.

Multilateralism: a keyword doing heavy lifting

In meetings with almost all leaders, Xi stressed the importance of upholding multilateralism and the United Nations-centred international order.

This principle was enshrined in the Tianjin Declaration, which was adopted at the summit, and also in his remarks during the Victory Day military parade on Wednesday.

While no country was singled out for criticism, Xi’s remarks did take veiled shots at the United States, which is embroiled with many nations in tariff disputes and security matters. Beijing has repeatedly criticised Washington for disrupting the international order.

On Thursday in Beijing, Xi met with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong. “Faced with the counter-current of unilateralism and the law of the jungle, an increasing number of countries have recognised that compromise and retreat offer no way forward; only by uniting and strengthening ourselves can we find hope,” Xi said.