Bloc confrontation is a path to disaster and the world must abide by the UN Charter, the foreign minister says
3-MIN READ3-MIN1 ListenShi JiangtaoPublished: 8:59pm, 8 Mar 2026Updated: 9:11pm, 8 Mar 2026China’s top diplomat has cast his country as “an irreplaceable mainstay” amid global upheaval, rejecting any suggestion of a US-China G2 duopoly for global co-leadership as a replay of disastrous great-power rivalries.Instead, against the backdrop of the escalating Iran conflict and Washington’s renewed trade wars, Wang Yi renewed Beijing’s call for a post-hegemonic order anchored in the United Nations, advocating an “equal and orderly multipolar world” that transcended bloc confrontation and spheres of influence.Throughout the 90-minute meticulously choreographed press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress, Wang presented China as a stabilising counterweight to the US amid accelerating “changes unseen in a century” – changes in which transformation and instability intertwined with ongoing conflicts.AdvertisementUS President Donald Trump revived the concept of the Group of Two, implying a framework of US-China co-governance, last year ahead of his summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea, a move that some observers saw as recognition of Beijing as Washington’s peer superpower.
In the Chinese capital on Sunday, Wang acknowledged the “significant impact” of both nations on global affairs but swiftly rejected the idea.
“We should not forget there are more than 190 countries on our planet,” he said. “World history has always been written jointly by many countries, and the future of humanity will be forged through the collective efforts of all nations.”
