China’s top diplomat Wang Yi to visit US and Canada to boost ties, pave way for Xi trip

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s coming trip to New York and Canada is expected to lay the groundwork for President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US and warmer ties with Ottawa.

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Wang would chair a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on May 26, followed by a visit to Canada from May 28 to 30.

The New York leg of Wang’s trip follows less than two weeks after the Beijing summit between Xi and US President Donald Trump. There, the two leaders projected a warm rapport and discussed a potential state visit by Xi to Washington in September – indicating efforts by the rival powers to stabilise fraught ties.

Wang confirmed last week that Xi would visit the US in the autumn, following Trump’s official invitation to meet on September 24. It would mark the first state visit by a Chinese leader to the United States since September 2015.

Wang’s chairing of the UN meeting reinforces China’s diplomatic push to project itself as a defender of global peace and the multipolar order, and as a stabilising force in a turbulent world.

Meanwhile, whether withdrawing from multilateral institutions, capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, or waging war alongside Israel against Iran, Washington increasingly stands accused of undermining the rules-based international order.

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South China Morning Post