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China has issued a strong condemnation of the United States following its large-scale military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture and removal of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.  Representational Image: MFA China Press deck In an official response released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on January 3, a spokesperson called the U.S. action a blatant use of force against a sovereign nation and a serious breach of international law. The statement came in response to a direct question posed at a press briefing, referencing public claims made by U.S. President Donald Trump on the social platform Truth Social, where he described the operation as a “successful” mission involving a military strike and the extraction of Venezuela’s head of state. Beijing expressed “deep shock” over the development and described the actions of the U.S. as hegemonic, saying they not only violated Venezuela’s sovereignty but also posed a significant threat to pea...

A series of coordinated signals from global leaders offer a telling glimpse into the shifting diplomatic, ideological, and geopolitical tectonics shaping our world at the dawn of the new year. At the center of it all are themes that intersect national destiny with global anxieties—sovereignty, unity, history, and the contested promise of peace. Represntational: Old Persian carpet from Iran depicting the geopolitics of Europe; Via: VintageMapStore In China, President Xi Jinping’s New Year address struck a note of national confidence . Framing 2025 as the closing chapter of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, Xi emphasized milestones in economic modernization , scientific breakthroughs, and technological innovation. From asteroid missions and AI advancements to the commissioning of a new aircraft carrier, his tone mirrored an assertive vision of self-reliance.  But this technological momentum was not detached from cultural revitalization. Xi wove in references to the popularity of Chin...

In a nationally broadcast New Year’s Eve address, Chinese President Xi Jinping marked the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the commencement of the next phase of national development with a sweeping review of China’s recent trajectory and an assertive projection of its ambitions for 2026 and beyond.  Xi’s message, delivered via China Media Group and online platforms, reiterated the central pillars of Communist Party leadership while spotlighting China’s economic expansion, innovation in science and technology, cultural revitalization, and a continued push for reunification and sovereignty. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2026 New Year Message. Via: Mao Ning According to official estimates, China’s economic output in 2025 is expected to surpass RMB 140 trillion , marking a significant milestone in national income. While global growth has remained uneven, Beijing's focus on endogenous development has underscored its shift from scale to quality.  Xi credited this perf...

China on Monday launched a sharp diplomatic broadside against Japan, accusing Tokyo of dangerous military harassment and political manipulation following an airspace incident involving fighter jets over disputed waters. At the same time, Beijing adopted a markedly measured tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to India. The comments showed China’s complex efforts to manage rising strategic frictions with Tokyo while avoiding open divergence with Moscow and New Delhi. Image Source: Lin Jian on X The escalating airspace tension stems from Japan’s accusation that Chinese naval fighter jets had “intermittently illuminated” Japanese Self-Defense Force aircraft with targeting radar during exercises over the East China Sea on December 6.  The Japan Defense Ministry claimed its aircraft did not obstruct China’s flight paths and denied any provocation. China, in contrast, described Japan’s account as a deliberate distortion, asserting that the Japanese aircraft had intrude...

In a crucial state visit to Beijing on December 4, 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping renewed commitments to deepening bilateral relations, positioning the China-France partnership as a pillar of stability amid escalating global fragmentation.  Image Source: Visegrad24 As Europe’s most prominent advocate for strategic autonomy, Macron’s high-profile engagement with Xi highlights a deepening convergence between Paris and Beijing on key global governance issues, even as Western alliances face stress over Ukraine, Middle East tensions, and global trade realignments. President Xi, hosting Macron for the fourth time on Chinese soil, described the relationship as one between two “independent, visionary and responsible major countries,” and urged both sides to continue shaping a more “equal and orderly multipolar world” through strengthened cooperation in trade, green technology, global governance, and peace diplomacy.  During the visit, which in...

India has lodged a strong diplomatic protest with Beijing after a UK-based Indian woman, originally from Arunachal Pradesh, was reportedly detained for nearly 18 hours at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport by Chinese immigration officials who refused to recognise her Indian passport.  The episode has escalated tensions between the two countries, with New Delhi asserting that Arunachal Pradesh remains an integral and inalienable part of India. Image Source: Romita Romi on X The traveller, Pema Wangjom Thongdok, was en route from London to Japan with a transit stop in Shanghai on November 21 when Chinese officials flagged her Indian passport as “invalid” due to her Arunachal Pradesh birthplace.  She described the ordeal as deeply distressing, noting that she was held without formal documentation and was unable to contact her embassy or family due to China’s ban on social media platforms and search engines. PTI: An Indian woman hailing from Arunachal Pradesh has said that sh...

Chinese President Xi Jinping met King Felipe VI of Spain in Beijing on Tuesday in a high-level bilateral engagement that reaffirmed the two countries’ strategic partnership and produced a suite of new agreements spanning trade, tech, education and green energy. Image Source: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Meeting at the Great Hall of the People during King Felipe VI’s state visit to mark 20 years of the China-Spain Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, President Xi said the relationship between the two countries "sets a model" for cooperation across different systems and cultures.  He noted the visit comes at a time of “global turbulence” and called for deeper collaboration to uphold multilateralism and economic order. The two sides signed 10 bilateral cooperation agreements , including deals in trade, science and technology, and education, aimed at building momentum in shared development goals.  China also announced it would extend visa-free access to Spanish citizens, ...

Fresh from a closed-door meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, U.S. President Donald J. Trump declared a raft of wins for American agriculture and energy in a late-night post that read more like a campaign rally than a diplomatic communique.  “Farmers should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors,” Trump urged, crediting Xi for greenlighting “massive amounts” of soybean and sorghum purchases, and praising China’s vow to help curb fentanyl trafficking. Image Source: MFA China But across the table, Beijing was reading from a different script emphasizing long-term engagement, economic stability, and strategic restraint. According to a statement by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Xi told Trump the U.S. and China should be “partners and friends,” and cautioned against “falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation.”  He framed China’s economic trajectory as “a vast ocean, big, resilient and promising,” pointing to 5.2 percent GDP ...

When Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the UN Climate Summit via video on September 24, it was a carefully calibrated intervention in a climate regime under strain--where global ambition lags, multilateral trust is fraying, and the North-South divide is once again becoming a fault line. Image Via: Mao Ning Marking ten years since the Paris Agreement, Xi’s speech   struck familiar chords of solidarity and green optimism, but embedded within it were clear strategic signals: China wants to be seen as the steward of global climate leadership , even as it subtly shifts the burden back onto the developed world. Ambitious Yet Calculated Targets Xi’s new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) aim to: Cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 7–10% from peak levels by 2035. Raise non-fossil fuel energy share to over 30%. Expand wind and solar capacity to 3,600 gigawatts — six times the 2020 baseline. Scale up forest stock volume to over 24 billion cubic meters. Mak...

U.S. Secretary of State-designate and senior senator Marco Rubio has called out China’s plan to establish a "national nature reserve" at Scarborough Shoal, warning that it represents a coercive and destabilizing attempt to rewrite maritime realities in the South China Sea.  Rubio Slams China’s Scarborough Shoal Plan. Via: Open Source Intel His comments mark the strongest U.S. congressional signal yet in support of the Philippines amid renewed tensions at the reef. “The U.S. stands with our Philippine ally in rejecting China’s destabilizing plans,” Rubio posted, framing Beijing’s move as part of a broader campaign to “erase everything Russian” in other theatres, and now expand coercion in Asia.  He called the reserve a pretext to advance China’s territorial ambitions “at the expense of its neighbors and regional stability.” Scarborough Shoal, located just 120 nautical miles from Luzon island, is a traditional fishing ground and lies well within the Philippines’ Exclusive Ec...

In an extraordinary virtual meeting held on September 8, 2025, BRICS leaders convened under Brazil’s presidency to articulate a unified position against what they described as growing geopolitical instability, unilateral trade barriers, and systemic failures in global governance.  Image Source: Ayushi Pandey on X Initiated by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the closed-door summit was attended by heads of state and senior officials from Brazil, China, Russia, India, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. At the core of the summit’s agenda was the need to overhaul multilateral institutions, beginning with the United Nations and its Security Council, which BRICS leaders collectively agreed no longer reflected the realities or interests of the wider international community, particularly the Global South.  The timing of the meeting--just weeks before the UN General Assembly, COP-30, and the G20 Leaders’ Summit --was viewed as a...

Chinese President Xi Jinping used the BRICS virtual summit on Friday to deliver a forceful message calling for the reform of global governance structures, including the United Nations and its Security Council, while sharply criticizing unilateralism and trade protectionism as threats to global peace and development. Image Source: Mao Ning Xi’s address came amid escalating global tensions, supply chain disruptions, and increasing concern among developing countries over their marginalization in international decision-making.  He identified the BRICS grouping--comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa--as uniquely positioned to lead the charge for a more just and equitable world order. Call for Reformed Multilateralism Xi underscored the growing urgency for systemic reform in global governance, pointing to “hegemonism, unilateralism, and protectionism” as destabilizing forces.  Without naming any country directly, his remarks clearly referenced the rising wave o...

UK's new Business Secretary Peter Kyle will travel to China this week in a renewed push by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to stabilise and expand trade ties with Beijing.  The visit marks the latest in a series of high-level engagements aimed at boosting economic cooperation amid Britain's stagnant growth outlook. Image Source: biztradegovuk Kyle, who was appointed in last week’s cabinet reshuffle, is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday, stepping into the role previously held by Jonathan Reynolds, now serving as chief whip.  The trip will include participation in the long-delayed UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) -- the first such summit in seven years. JETCO meetings, once a regular fixture in bilateral relations, were suspended in 2019 after the UK halted official trade dialogue in response to China’s clampdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The Covid-19 pandemic further stalled diplomatic contact. The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP @P...

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that a multipolar world order “has taken shape” and warned that any Western move to confiscate Russia’s frozen assets would amount to “economic suicide,” in wide-ranging remarks to the press at the conclusion of his four-day official visit to China. Image Source: Fox News on X Speaking after meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders in Tianjin and Beijing, Putin positioned Russia, China, and India as the key poles of a post-Western international system.  “Multipolarity does not mean new hegemons,” he said. “It means equality in global governance.” Putin dismissed the notion that multipolarity remains aspirational. “Its contours have already formed,” he stated, pointing to platforms like BRICS and the SCO as realigning forces. He emphasized that sovereignty and equality--not bloc politics--should define international cooperation. Also Read:  India, Russia, and China Signal New ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping used the occasion of the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II to deliver a speech that blended historical remembrance with assertive messages about modern geopolitics, Chinese identity, and future global leadership. Image Source: Mao Ning Addressing foreign dignitaries, military personnel, and party officials at a formal reception following a large-scale military parade in Beijing, Xi described the war’s outcome as a “historic turning point” that helped lift China out of crisis and launch its long path toward “national rejuvenation.”  He noted that the Chinese people fought the 14-year war “bitterly and heroically” and credited the contributions of Allied forces and international support — without naming specific countries. The speech emphasized the value of multilateral cooperation and global peace but also carried pointed references to sovereignty, national strength, and vigilance against external aggression.  Xi warne...