A week of bustling diplomacy in Beijing as world leaders look to China for stability

BEIJING – A stream of foreign leaders visited Beijing this week amid a US naval blockade in the Middle East that has disrupted energy supply flows, reflecting how countries are engaging China to deepen ties and to navigate an increasingly volatile global landscape.

The packed diplomatic calendar saw leaders from Spain, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Vietnam visiting China, which has long positioned itself as a steady and reliable partner in contrast to the unpredictability of the Trump administration.

While such visits are typically planned well in advance and therefore unlikely to have been arranged after the US-Israel attacks on Iran on Feb 28, analysts said their convergence at a moment of geopolitical turbulence has lent them added significance.

Dr Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, a US-based think-tank, said: “The image presented is one where countries swarm to China for coordination, consultation and, above all, some sense of certainty and predictability.”

China has so far remained outside the conflict in the Middle East, adopting what she described as a “relatively detached position” in the unfolding energy crisis caused by a war that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said “should never have happened”.

“It’s natural for countries to want to seek alignment and potential cooperation with China at a time of turbulence,” said Dr Sun, adding that such engagements are not necessarily targeted at the United States, although they may reflect broader anti-war sentiments, particularly in the case of Spain.

When meeting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on April 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping said today’s turbulent world “faces the struggle between right and might” and that both countries should work closely to resist “any backslide into the law of the jungle”.

In response, Mr Sanchez, who is on his fourth trip to China in four years, said Europe and China must forge closer ties to counter threats to multilateralism. He has emerged as one of the more vocal critics within the European Union of the Iran war, which he has described as illegal.

Meeting earlier on April 14 with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Mr Xi put forward a four-point proposal for maintaining peace in the Middle East. It called for the upholding of the principles of peaceful coexistence, sovereignty and international rule of law, and coordinated pursuit of development and security.

The UAE has been hit by Iranian strikes as Tehran targeted energy infrastructure in Gulf states in retaliation for the US-Israel strikes.

On April 15, Mr Xi met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and affirmed bilateral ties.

Mr Lavrov said at a subsequent news conference in Beijing that Russia is ready to increase energy supplies to China amid disruptions to global energy markets, and ahead of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This trip will take place in the week of May 18, Russian news outlet Vedomosti reported, citing sources.

US President Donald Trump is expected to visit Beijing from May 14 to 15, after postponing an earlier trip to remain in Washington because of the ongoing war in Iran.

Mr George Chen, partner for the Greater China practice at advisory firm The Asia Group, said foreign leaders are looking for clarity on Beijing’s position on hot issues, including the Iran war, but also regarding trade and investment interests in the Middle East.

“China also wants to conduct more of such meetings and engagement from behind the scenes. Some may say this is exactly how diplomacy should be done rather than Mr Trump venting on social media daily,” he said.

He said he expects more high-level American business leaders to visit China after Mr Trump’s visit in mid-May, as companies seek first-hand insights into China’s policy direction.

“When the world is so uncertain and China’s economy keeps growing at 5 per cent, that makes China stand out on the world stage as a power of certainty, including in the economic sense,” Mr Chen added.

China’s gross domestic product grew 5 per cent in the first three months of 2026 from a year earlier, according to official figures released on April 16, exceeding forecasts by Reuters-polled economists of a 4.8 per cent expansion.

This was up from the 4.5 per cent growth recorded in the last quarter of 2025, which had marked a three-year low. China is targeting growth of 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent in 2026.

Beijing, on its part, has framed the cluster of high-level visits this week as more than just routine diplomacy, presenting them as evidence that countries are seeking alignment and predictability in an increasingly uncertain world.

An editorial piece by Chinese state media Global Times on April 16 said the wave of visits to China is “the world casting multiple votes of confidence in China through the most direct means – physical presence”.

“In an era full of volatility, China represents certainty,” it said, citing what it described as the country’s “policy continuity, resilient industrial chains, a commitment to multilateralism and adherence to cooperative commitments”.

While different countries have different priorities, all point towards deeper engagement with China, the editorial said.

“Regardless of their specific goals or positions, countries are willing to approach China because China consistently treats every partner with an open and inclusive attitude. This equal-footing diplomatic approach has enabled China’s ‘circle of friends’ to keep expanding,” it said.

The meetings also come as China steps up efforts to expand its influence in Asia, at a time when the US is absorbed in the Middle East crisis.

On April 15, Mr Xi met Vietnamese President To Lam and appealed to the two countries’ shared kinship as single-party communist states, saying that “defending the socialist system and the ruling position of the Communist Party is the greatest common strategic interest”.

Mr Lam was elected Vietnam’s state president on April 7, consolidating power in a rare move that makes him the country’s most powerful man. The visit, which runs until April 17, marks his first trip abroad since he was elected.

“President To Lam’s visit to China will reassure Beijing that Vietnam’s new leadership prioritises the bilateral relationship, especially its commitment under the ‘Four Nos’ policy not to side with another great power against China,” said Dr Khang Vu, a visiting scholar at the Political Science Department at Boston College.

Vietnam’s “Four Nos” refer to no military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign military bases on Vietnamese territory and no use or threat of force.

Despite overlapping claims in the South China Sea, China and Vietnam have sought to deepen economic ties in what some observers see as Hanoi hedging geopolitically, keeping its options open with major powers, including Washington.

China is Vietnam’s largest supplier, with US$198 billion (S$251 billion) of Chinese goods imported in 2025, up 22.4 per cent from the year before. This was more than any other South-east Asian country.

On the first day of his visit on April 14, Mr Lam said in his speech at Beijing’s Tsinghua University that China was a “strategic choice and top priority”.

Professor Zhao Weihua at Shanghai’s Fudan University said Vietnam, for one, is employing a balancing strategy in which it leans towards China ideologically, while relying more on the US in areas such as security and technology.

“Paying attention to China’s experience and maintaining balance are not contradictory. Rather, they are two sides of the same strategy,” said Prof Zhao, who is director of the university’s Center for China’s Relations with Neighboring Countries.