Editorial | China’s confident Wang Yi rises to occasion in positive message to the world
- Foreign minister makes it clear that China will be a stabilising, cooperative force in international affairs, and calls on US to honour its pledges with a warning over Taiwan
Circumstances have centred attention on Foreign Minister Wang Yi. His press conference during the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress would normally have been overshadowed by one held by the premier on the final day.
But the cancellation of Premier Li Qiang’s meeting with journalists made Wang’s news conference the main one. It followed his reappointment to the foreign affairs post.
By all accounts Beijing’s top diplomat exuded confidence and authority, giving China a much needed face following predecessor Qin Gang’s unexplained disappearance.
Projecting China as a stabilising and positive force in international affairs, Wang cited Middle East and Ukraine peace initiatives, bringing Saudi Arabia and Iran to the negotiating table and safeguarding the UN and other international organisations. This was an attempt to refute the Washington narrative, which paints China as a challenge to the international system.
Without directly naming the United States, Wang contrasted what China is doing in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa with what the US and others are doing.
