Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has used his first face-to-face meetings with the US’ Asia-Pacific allies since 2020 to try to forge diplomatic inroads as Washington pushes back against Beijing’s influence in the region.
Xi has not backed away from China’s longstanding claims to Taiwan and most of the South China Sea, but his comments to various leaders at the APEC forum in Bangkok this week have focused more on Beijing’s pivotal economic role for its neighbors.
As China’s stature has risen, its diplomacy has grown more nuanced than the high-handed approach that has sometimes sparked resentment in the past.
Photo: Kyodo via Reuters
“Xi Jinping’s diplomatic engagements and the supporting chorus of propaganda messages have sought to put forward a softer, smiling facade in what appears to be an effort to reduce friction and tensions, particularly with the US and European countries that have become increasingly critical, frustrated and committed to competing with China,” said Drew Thompson, a research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
In his address to the annual APEC summit, Xi said that “China is ready to pursue peaceful coexistence and common development with all countries on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.”
China would “continue to share our development opportunities with the world, particularly with the Asia-Pacific region,” he added.
Thompson said Xi’s reappearance on the world stage after staying in China for more than two years during the pandemic “was reassuring for many countries that have sought to establish contact with the top, perhaps the only decisionmaker in China.”
Leaders in Tokyo and Beijing can go years without meeting, reflecting longstanding grievances from Japan’s World War II occupation of China and other issues.
In a meeting on Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Bangkok, Xi stressed that the two countries should be “partners, not threats.”
Kishida told reporters after the 45-minute meeting that he had a “candid and detailed discussion” with Xi, and expressed “serious concerns” over China’s activity in the East China Sea.
However, he also told Xi there were various possibilities for cooperation and that it was important for Japan and China to achieve “constructive and stable” relations.
Meanwhile, Singapore must balance its economic ties with Washington and Beijing. The US Navy’s 7th Fleet plays an active role in the strategically key South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety, and Singapore supports the US military presence.
In his meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) Xi pledged to work with the city-state whose population is largely ethnically Chinese to put it in “the right direction of economic and regional integration.”
In another bilateral meeting, Xi told Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose country is a treaty ally and important security partner of the US, that China is willing to boost its imports of food and other products, and work together on agriculture, infrastructure, energy and people-to-people exchanges.
The Philippines, Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia have long had territorial disputes with China over its claims in the South China Sea.
Xi appeared to give no ground in his meeting with Marcos, saying that “on the South China Sea, the two sides must stick to friendly consultations and handle differences and disputes properly.”
Afterward, Marcos’ office said the two had agreed that their maritime disputes “do not define the totality of Philippines-China relations,” and Marcos would make a state visit to China in January.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS