'Two sessions' 2024: Premier Li Qiang vows China's 'new type' of diplomacy will pursue equality and order

China has pledged to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and stand firm against "bullying" and "hegemonism" as priorities in diplomacy this year.

While delivering his first work report on Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who took office a year ago, recommitted China to an independent foreign policy.

"We call for an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, and we are committed to promoting a new type of international relations," Li told nearly 3,000 national legislators in Beijing.

"We will remain firm in opposing all hegemonic, high-handed and bullying acts and upholding international fairness and justice," the Chinese premier said during the opening of the annual gathering of the National People's Congress (NPC).

The remarks of Li echoed the Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work in late December.

At that time, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged party leaders, senior government officials and diplomats during the Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work to step up efforts to "elevate China's international influence and ... create a more favourable international environment" to "lay the strategic foundations of building a strong nation and achieve national rejuvenation".

The pledge came as Beijing announced a moderate increase in its diplomatic budget amid economic headwinds this year.

In the annual budget proposed by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, spending on diplomacy in 2024 would increase 6.6 per cent to 60.783 billion yuan (US$8.4 billion), a mild growth compared with the 12.2 per cent budget increase last year when Beijing resumed its diplomatic engagement after three quiet years under Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

While the total spending would be slightly shy of the pre-pandemic peak of 61.539 billion yuan in 2019, it marks a notable increase compared to Beijing slashing its diplomacy budget by 11.8 per cent in 2020 and 1.9 per cent in 2021 before a 2.4 per cent boost in 2022.

Over the past decade, China has steadily ramped up its diplomatic offensive as it tries to present itself as a key force in an increasingly multipolar world order, particularly in opposition to what Chinese state media describes as chaos in the US and Europe.

It also seeks to cast itself as a neutral leader in the developing world, from the Middle East to Africa, where calls for reform of the Western-dominated international system have mounted.

Xi is expected to host leaders from Africa for the China-Africa cooperation forum. It is part of a broader effort to deepen China's influence in the resource-rich region and bring together countries in the Global South, which has been increasingly important to Beijing, especially when ties with the US and Europe are strained by economic disputes, political tensions and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Beijing is also seeking to expand its diplomatic outreach.

For the first time in history, vice-premiers and state councillors would "represent the State Council to carry out foreign affairs activities under unified arrangement", according to proposed revisions to the Organic Law of the State Council, which are expected to be endorsed by the national legislation in coming days.

Under its traditional arrangement, China has four vice-premiers and five state councillors.

However, the removal of Qin Gang, the former foreign minister, and Li Shangfu, the former defence minister, has brought the number of state councillors to just three: Wang Xiaohong, the public security minister, Wu Zhenglong, the secretary general of the State Council, and Shen Yiqin, the most senior woman in the leadership.

Wang has been increasingly active in foreign activities. In January, he hosted Iranian police chief Ahmad Reza Radan and the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding for law enforcement cooperation.

Last month, he was in Budapest for a bilateral law enforcement conference when he pledged during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to "deepen mutual political trust ... and strengthen communication and collaboration in international and regional affairs" with the central European country.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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