China’s US envoy says world faces ‘stark choice’ as 2026 opens with instability

China’s top diplomat in the United States delivered a sharply worded rebuke on Thursday over US President Donald Trump’s tumultuous approach to global relations, laying out a stark choice between a world informed by China-led stability and one battered by Washington.

Chinese ambassador Xie Feng’s comments to the 1,000-member China General Chamber of Commerce come two weeks into Trump’s second year of his latest term in the White House.

The past fortnight has already seen the Trump administration abduct Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro; threaten Greenland, Mexico, Colombia and Cuba; pull the US out of 61 international organisations; threaten Iran; defend an immigration agent who shot an unarmed mother; suspend immigrant visas from 75 countries; and file a criminal investigation against the US central bank chairman.

“We are just 15 days into the year 2026, but the year already has seen black swans and grey rhinos one after the other. Instability and uncertainty are raging all around,” Xie said. “Where will the world be heading? Humanity is facing a grave choice. Peace or war. Openness or isolation. Cooperation or confrontation.”

Black swan and grey rhino events refer to highly improbable, unpredictable developments that carry widespread, far-reaching consequences.

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Xie addressed the chamber members hours after his embassy blasted the US over a “so-called agreement” worth up to US$500 billion to bring critical Taiwanese tech manufacturing to the US, a deal it “strongly deplored” and called on Washington to revoke.

South China Morning Post