President Xi Jinping urges China’s diplomats to ‘defy strong powers’ posing ‘special challenges’ to national interests

Name: Xi Jinping says Vietnam is a ‘diplomatic priority’ as Chinese leader seeks closer bilateral ties
Uploaded: 2023-12-30T13:00:12.000Z
Duration: 3 min 23 s
Description: Xi Jinping says Vietnam is a ‘diplomatic priority’ as Chinese leader seeks closer bilateral ties

Envoys and overseas officials must display ‘readiness to fight and a firm will to defy strong powers’, Xi tells envoys

China must build a ‘diplomatic iron army’, he says, citing ‘escalating oppression and containment by external forces’ in recent years

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President Xi Jinping greets members of China’s diplomatic corps gathered in Beijing for a work conference on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Vanessa Caiin Shanghai

Published: 9:00pm, 30 Dec 2023Updated: 11:07pm, 30 Dec 2023

President Xi Jinping has urged China’s diplomatic envoys to stay on the alert and not submit to Western power as they defend national interests overseas.

Addressing diplomats gathered in Beijing on Friday, Xi said ambassadors and overseas-based officials must tell China stories well and win more friends.

“It is necessary to … resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, with an attitude of readiness to fight and a firm will to defy strong powers,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

The call comes amid an ideological and geopolitical feud between China and the United States and its allies.

It also comes a day after top Communist Party leaders, officials and diplomats attending a foreign policy meeting in Beijing vowed to further raise China’s “international influence, appeal and power”, and stand firm against “bullying” and “hegemonism” from the West.

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Xi Jinping says Vietnam is a ‘diplomatic priority’ as Chinese leader seeks closer bilateral ties

Addressing the Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work that concluded on Thursday, Xi had urged Chinese diplomats and cadres to “break new ground”, “rally the overwhelming majority” of the world and adhere to the “fighting spirit”.