For over a week at the United Nations, China actively projected an image of itself as the responsible global leader, ready to take on international challenges. This stance sharply contrasted with the United States, which, under President Trump, appeared to be withdrawing from its global commitments.
During the U.N. General Assembly, Chinese leaders announced pledges concerning trade and climate change. These commitments were noteworthy not just for their content, but for how they framed China as a beacon of stability and global cooperation on the world stage.
In what seemed a direct address to the United States, Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest official, highlighted in his Friday speech that rising ‘unilateral and protectionist measures, like increased tariffs,’ were hindering global economic growth. He asserted that China, in contrast, was ‘consistently opening its door wider to the world.’
Furthermore, on Tuesday, Li declared that Beijing would stop claiming certain trade benefits traditionally reserved for developing nations at the World Trade Organization. Experts viewed this as a strategic move to demonstrate China’s support for fairer trade, especially while the Trump administration was adopting an opposing stance by using tariffs as a weapon.
Regarding climate action, China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, delivered a video address to a U.N. summit on Wednesday. For the first time, he unveiled a specific goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Xi emphasized that pursuing ‘green and low carbon’ development was the ‘undeniable trend of our time,’ subtly criticizing nations that ‘acted against’ this transition – a clear jab at the United States.
The difference in approaches couldn’t be starker. Xi’s climate pledge came just a day after former President Trump had publicly derided climate change as the “greatest con job” that was “made by stupid people.”
Image: China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, remotely addressing a climate summit at U.N. headquarters on Wednesday.
(Credit: Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press)
Image: President Trump delivering remarks to the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations, on Tuesday.
(Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times)
These sequential announcements perfectly illustrate Beijing’s strategic vision: to position itself as a counter-narrative to ‘America First.’ China labels its foreign policy ‘true multilateralism,’ which means actively endorsing international organizations and agreements that President Trump has often disregarded, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the Paris climate accord.
The underlying objective is to convince other nations that China is a ‘morally upright actor,’ thereby encouraging them to align more with Beijing than with Washington, explains Dylan Loh, a Chinese foreign policy expert at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“They are seizing opportunities,” Loh commented. “It’s evident that where the United States leaves a leadership void, particularly on climate issues, China is eager to step up and fill that space.”
However, whether China’s actions are genuinely impactful, or merely appear significant due to the lowered global expectations set by the Trump administration’s disengagement from climate science and international agreements, remains an open question.
Consider Xi’s climate targets: experts suggest that for a realistic chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels – the core aim of the Paris Agreement – China would need to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from peak levels over the next decade. Instead, China, the world’s largest polluter, committed to a reduction of only 7 to 10 percent.
“The emissions target announced by President Xi has disappointed environmental groups and falls short of the urgent climate leadership the world requires,” stated Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Nevertheless, Mr. Li expressed optimism that China might surpass its targets, driven by its rapidly expanding electric vehicle, wind, and solar energy sectors.
China has historically been reluctant to make more ambitious climate commitments, arguing that such measures could impede its economic development.
A similar paradox exists in China’s self-designation as a developing country. While this description strengthens its ties with less developed nations, its nearly $19 trillion economy is already the world’s second-largest, creating a significant tension.
Premier Li’s trade pledge on Tuesday, indicating that China would no longer seek certain World Trade Organization benefits, seemed designed to address this discrepancy. These benefits typically include extended timelines for implementing trade agreements.
Yet, Li Yihong, China’s chief representative to the WTO, informed reporters in Geneva that China would ‘always consider itself part of the developing world.’
The United States has consistently criticized China for not honoring its commitments made upon joining the WTO in 2001. The Trump administration specifically argued that China’s ‘developing nation’ status allowed it to unfairly manipulate global trade regulations for too long.
“China appears to want the best of both worlds,” remarked Stephen Olson, a former U.S. trade negotiator and a senior visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. “It is keen to retain its ‘membership card’ in the Global South, a bloc it aspires to lead.”
Mr. Olson added that this policy adjustment should not overshadow some of China’s more contentious trade practices, such as its substantial subsidies for Chinese exports, which often make goods produced in other countries less competitive globally.
Berry Wang contributed reporting from Hong Kong.