China’s role in the international order

Published 9 June 2026 · politics

In the past six months, specifically from December 2025 to May 2026, the top leaders of all the other permanent members of the United Nations

In the past six months, specifically from December 2025 to May 2026, the top leaders of all the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have visited China. In December 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron paid a three-day state visit to China, accompanied by over 30 French business leaders. Then from January 28 to 31, 2026, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited China, also accompanied by a large group of business leaders. Last month, from May 13-15, U.S. President Donald Trump visited China. He was accompanied by key government officials, and a high-profile delegation of over a dozen American CEOs. Russian President Vladimir Putin also paid a state visit to China from May 19-20. He was accompanied by a 39-member delegation including five deputy prime ministers, eight federal ministers, and the heads of Russia’s Central Bank and major state corporations. Such intensive, high-level diplomatic engagements in a single country have drawn wide attention. As observed by Professor Rajan Kumar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, such incidents are “extremely rare” and “underline China’s emergence as a central hub of global diplomacy”. Indeed, facing an increasingly fluid, turbulent and challenging international order, these visits are telling examples of China’s unique role in mediating between world leaders. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, an independent foreign policy of peace has been established as its diplomatic principle, where China seeks, not bloc confrontations, but global partnership, ensuring decisions are made on their own merits, and that the UN plays an essential role in international relations.

China endorses multilateralism, non-aggression, and the resolution of global disputes through dialogue rather than military means, which gives it a special advantage in the efforts to tackle complex issues flaring up across the world, together with the other permanent members of the UNSC. During the meetings, China’s President Xi Jinping emphasised the importance to uphold the UN-centred international system, and increase communication and coordination for the settlement of disputes. On the U.S., Russia and the UN President Xi and President Trump have agreed on building a constructive relationship of strategic stability. The framework of ‘constructive strategic stability’ between the two countries means that they will uphold positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay; healthy stability with competition within proper limits; constant stability with manageable differences; and lasting stability with expectable peace. When it comes to the Taiwan question, the One China principle and China’s reunification should be unequivocally supported. While talking with President Trump, President Xi stressed that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations. “Taiwan independence” and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water. Safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the U.S. In the meeting with President Putin, President Xi noted that 2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.