Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy, said Wang’s description of China as “the most valuable source of stability and certainty in a turbulent world” during his press conference stood out most to him.
It reflects Beijing’s effort to cast itself as a provider of long-term, predictable and non-confrontational diplomacy at a time of wavering Western policies and frequent geopolitical tensions, he told CNA.
That message, Sun said, is reinforced by Beijing’s rejection of major power co-governance and a so-called G2 – the idea that the US and China jointly manage global affairs, which was previously surfaced by Trump – as Wang explicitly made clear in his Mar 8 press conference.
Sun added that the statement also strengthens China’s self-identification with the Global South, alongside its advocacy for “equal and orderly multipolarity”.
During his press conference, Wang underlined China’s firm backing for the United Nations (UN), which he described as the central pillar of global governance, although he also acknowledged it has to “keep pace with the times”.
Jonathan Ping, an associate professor at Bond University in Australia, said the Chinese leadership is now projecting itself more assertively as a defender of multilateralism, set against what he characterised as an idealised narrative of US retreat.
At the same time, he noted a noticeably softer tone on US-China ties ahead of the anticipated Xi-Trump summit, suggesting Beijing is cautious about how Washington may approach the long-running “China issue”.
“China issue” is shorthand often used in US policy circles to describe Washington’s overarching strategy for managing China’s rise.
For Ping, the significance lies in that dual track – China presenting itself as a champion of global governance while carefully calibrating its stance towards the US in a year expected to see intensive high-level engagement.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-two-sessions-foreign-policy-economy-livelihoods-5986036
