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Coronavirus China
ChinaPolitics
Shi Jiangtao
Shi Jiangtao

As I see it | China signals change as it tries to mend ties with the West and deal with Covid surge

  • Wang Yi is top diplomat after a foreign policy reshuffle and has struck a conciliatory tone in remarks calling for dialogue with Washington
  • President Xi Jinping has meanwhile admitted public opposition to zero-Covid, saying ‘we need to communicate to forge consensus’

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Top diplomat Wang Yi says the foreign policy team will “strive for more favourable external conditions” for China’s economic recovery. Photo: Kyodo
Shi Jiangtao

The new year is off to a mixed start for China.

A reshuffle of its foreign policy team – the biggest in a decade – has seen Wang Yi rise to the top of the diplomatic hierarchy, while Qin Gang has replaced him as foreign minister.

After a long year of ups and downs, the new line-up, and the retirement of former foreign policy supremo Yang Jiechi, are a signal of change.

In his new role as President Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy aide, Wang struck a conciliatory tone on Sunday, calling for dialogue with Washington to ease tensions. Writing in Communist Party journal Qiushi, Wang pledged to fight against US “hegemony and bullying”. But he said the year’s top foreign policy priority would be to “strive for more favourable external conditions” for China’s economic recovery and “prevent and resolve major external risks and challenges”.
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Wang described last year as a “transitional period of turbulent change” amid risks of “fragmentation and disorder” – a veiled reference to US President Joe Biden’s coalition-building approach to counter China and Russia. He also said the Covid-19 pandemic and “the Ukraine crisis” had brought “profound and complex” changes to the geopolitical landscape.

Despite pledges from both sides to maintain open lines of communication since the Bali summit between Xi and Biden in November, Wang’s remarks underline the reality that US-China ties may never return to the pre-Covid days. They also lay bare the challenges facing Beijing as it tries to repair ties with the West and recover from its zero-Covid failure.

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The coronavirus is ripping through the population after Beijing suddenly reversed its policy at the start of December, abandoning draconian controls amid a growing social and economic crisis.

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