As I see it | China has been in diplomatic overdrive, but has anything changed?

Name: ‘Don’t help a villain’: China urges Japan not to follow US’ lead on tech isolation
Uploaded: 2023-04-25T11:57:53.000Z
Duration: 1 min 54 s
Description: ‘Don’t help a villain’: China urges Japan not to follow US’ lead on tech isolation

Qin Gang’s first few months as foreign minister have been packed with meetings, phone calls and overseas trips

But there has been more policy continuity than change in that time, and no substantive shift on US-China-Russia ties

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Qin Gang has met nearly 60 foreign dignitaries, spoken by phone with 20 counterparts and visited 10 nations during his first 100-plus days in the job. Photo: Xinhua

Shi Jiangtao

Published: 7:57pm, 25 Apr 2023

When Qin Gang was named as China’s new foreign minister in December, it raised expectations for post-Covid diplomacy after nearly three years of self-imposed isolation.

Qin appears to have met some of those expectations in his first 100-plus days in the job, as Beijing tries to relaunch its so-called major power diplomacy to help improve its tarnished image and salvage the country’s battered economy.

A scan of the foreign ministry website shows that, in less than three months, Qin has met nearly 60 foreign dignitaries, spoken by phone with 20 counterparts and visited 10 nations, including the Philippines on Sunday.

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‘Don’t help a villain’: China urges Japan not to follow US’ lead on tech isolation

Qin – who at 57 is China’s youngest foreign minister – has also been busy giving speeches and unveiling policy documents, including on the Global Security Initiative and Beijing’s peace proposal for the war in Ukraine.

In February, he declared that world security would not be possible without the security of China.

Last week he sought to push back against Western criticism of Beijing’s stance on Taiwan at a ministry event in Shanghai.

“Taiwan’s return to China is a component of the post-war international order, written in black and white in the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation,” Qin said, adding that “the established post-war international order will not be upended”.

Qin also accompanied President Xi Jinping on a high-profile trip to Russia in March. Meanwhile, state media reports have often sounded victorious as foreign delegations from Europe, Asia and Latin America visited China in recent months.

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.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}As I see it | China has been in diplomatic overdrive, but has anything changed?

As I see it | China has been in diplomatic overdrive, but has anything changed?