China’s top diplomat Wang Yi hails ‘multipolar world’ ahead of Trump-Xi talks at Apec

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said “a multipolar world is emerging”, positioning Beijing’s latest vision for global governance as a unifying and stabilising framework at a time of increasing turbulence and Washington-driven unilateralism.

Speaking in Beijing on Monday, Wang also called for “an end to politicising economic and trade issues, artificially fragmenting global markets, and frequently provoking trade and tariff battles”, a thinly veiled jab at US President Donald Trump.

His remarks came just ahead of the first face-to-face summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping since the US leader’s return to the White House, set to take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in South Korea’s Gyeongju on Thursday.

Wang hailed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), introduced by Xi last month, as “another major public good China contributes to the world”, noting it had already received support from over 140 countries and international organisations.

Drawing on earlier efforts – including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilisation Initiative – the five-point framework underscores China’s commitment to inclusive multilateralism, sovereign equality and developmental autonomy free from ideological constraints.

Its formal launch, set against the backdrop of ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, economic fragmentation, and declining trust in US leadership, was widely seen as a counter to Trump’s transactional diplomacy. The initiative appears to have been aimed primarily at the Global South, marking a more ambitious phase in China’s global engagement, according to observers.