The foreign policy of Xi Jinping concerns the policies of the People's Republic of China's Xi Jinping with respect to other nations. Xi became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012 and became the President of China in 2013.

Xi has reportedly taken a hard-line on security issues as well as foreign affairs, projecting a more nationalistic and assertive China on the world stage. His political program calls for a China more united and confident of its own value system and political structure. Xi Jinping's "major-country diplomacy" doctrine has replaced the earlier Deng Xiaoping era slogan of "keep a low profile" and has legitimized a more active role for China on the world stage, particularly with regards to reform of the international order, engaging in open ideological competition with the West, and assuming a greater responsibility for global affairs in accordance with China's rising power and status. Xi has advocated for diplomats to adopt a more assertive style, commonly expressed as wolf warrior diplomacy.

In setting foreign policy, Xi favors an approach of baseline thinking, in which China explicitly states red line that other countries must not cross. In the Chinese perspective, taking tough positions on these matters reduces strategic uncertainty.

Overview Xi takes a strong personal interest in foreign affairs. In his first five years in office, Xi flew over 350,000 miles, visited five continents, and gave over one hundred speeches to foreign audiences. In doing so, he became the first Chinese leader to outpace his American presidential counterparts in foreign travel. Xi's extensive schedule of phone and video foreign meetings as part of his "cloud diplomacy" (云外交) received prominent attention in Chinese media, similar to in-person foreign visits. Xi's foreign policies have sometimes been referred to in Chinese state media as Xiplomacy.

Xi has overseen a shift towards a Chinese foreign policy which, as contrasted with the approaches of Chinese leaders since Deng Xiaoping, is more assertive in acting proactively rather than reacting, and more willing to forcefully assert national interests rather than compromise them. This transition was marked by the October 2013 announcement of "striving for achievement". According to Xi, the "primary theme of China's foreign policy should be the striving for achievements, moving forward along with time changes, and acting more proactively." Xi calls on diplomats to demonstrate a fighting spirit, which has been expressed in the form of wolf warrior diplomacy.

During the Xi Jinping era, the Community of Common Destiny has become China's most important foreign relations formulation.

Xi advocates "baseline thinking" in China's foreign policy: setting explicit red lines that other countries must not cross. In the Chinese perspective, these tough stances on baseline issues reduce strategic uncertainty, preventing other nations from misjudging China's positions or underestimating China's resolve in asserting what it perceives to be in its national interest.

Before 2017, Xi stated that China should participate in forming a new global order. This position changed in 2017, when Xi articulated the "Two Guidances": (1) China should guide the global community in building a more just and reasonable world order, and (2) that China should guide the global community in safeguarding international security.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, China engaged in mask diplomacy, a practice facilitated by its early success in responding to the pandemic. Chinese ownership of much of the global medical supply chain enhanced its ability to send doctors and medical equipment to suffering countries. China soon followed its mask diplomacy with vaccine diplomacy. China's infection rates were sufficiently low that it could send vaccines abroad without domestic objections. Academic Suisheng Zhao writes that "[j]ust by showing up and helping plug the colossal gaps in the global supply, China gained ground."

In the Xi era, China takes the position that unilateral economic restrictions and trade discrimination are impermissible measures for countries to use in achieving foreign policy goals and has positioned itself generally as a proponent of global free trade. In his January 2021 speech during the Davos Economic Forum, Xi called for abandonment of deliberate decoupling and the use of sanctions, stating that maintaining a commitment to diplomacy and a multilateral trade regime were important.

During the Xi Jinping administration, China seeks to shape international norms and rules in emerging policy areas where China has an advantage as an early participant. Xi describes such areas as "new frontiers," and they include policy areas such as space, deep sea, polar regions, the Internet, nuclear safety, anticorruption, and climate change.

In foreign policy announcements, Xi sometimes refers to "Great changes unseen in a century". The phrase refers to the perceived decline of United States power both domestically and internationally, as well as the broader fragmentation of Western powers. Xi also cites foreign friends of China in his foreign policy discourse to acknowledge other countries' sacrifices to assist in China's national liberation, particularly with regard to the Second Sino-Japanese war. For example, during diplomatic visits to other countries, Xi has praised the contributions of "friends" such as Claire Lee Chennault, Norman Bethune, Dawarkanath Kotnis, and Soviet pilots.

Republic of China (Taiwan)

In 2015, Xi met with Ma Ying-jeou, the president of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) which marked the first time the political leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait met since major hostilities of the Chinese Civil War ceased in 1951. Xi said that China and Taiwan are "one family" that cannot be pulled apart. However, the relations started deteriorating after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential elections in 2016.

On 12 March 2016, Xi stated that the 1992 Consensus was "the greatest common denominator and political bottom line for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations".

In the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held in 2017, Xi reaffirmed six of the nine principles that had been affirmed continuously since the CCP's 16th National Congress in 2002, with the notable exception of "Placing hopes on the Taiwan people as a force to help bring about unification." According to the Brookings Institution, Xi used stronger language on potential Taiwan independence than his predecessors towards previous DPP governments in Taiwan. He said that "we will never allow any person, any organisation, or any political party to split any part of the Chinese territory from China at any time at any form." Xi stated that people from Taiwan could receive national treatment in pursuing careers on the mainland and in February 2018 the PRC government announced 31 preferential policies for Taiwan people on matters of industry, finance, taxation, land use, employment, education, and health care.

In March 2018, Xi said that Taiwan would face the "punishment of history" for any attempts at separatism.

In a January 2019 speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of the "Message to Compatriots in Taiwan," Xi Jinping called for "peaceful reunification with Taiwan" in accordance with the "One China principle" and the 1992 Consensus. In Xi's view, the Taiwan issue emerged from China's weakness dating back to the Opium Wars and after World War II, the "two sides of the Taiwan straits fell into a special state of protracted political confrontation due to the civil war in China and the interferences of foreign forces." Xi Jinping called on Taiwan to reject formal independence from China, saying: "We make no promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the option of taking all necessary means." Those options, he said, could be used against "external interference." Xi also said that they "are willing to create broad space for peaceful reunification, but will leave no room for any form of separatist activities." President Tsai responded to the speech by saying Taiwan would not accept a one country, two systems arrangement with the mainland, while stressing the need for all cross-strait negotiations to be on a government-to-government basis.

Xi states that unification with Taiwan should occur peacefully because that is "most in line with the overall interest of the Chinese nation, including Taiwan compatriots." In a speech at the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi stated:

Xi has also said that unification under a "one country, two systems" approach would be appropriate. The American think tank Council on Foreign Relations described Xi's position on Taiwan as continuing consistent with the PRC's 1979 shift from "liberation" of Taiwan to "peaceful unification" with Taiwan.

In 2022, after the PRC military exercises around Taiwan, the PRC published a white paper called "The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era," which was the first white paper regards to Taiwan since 2000. The paper urged Taiwan to become a special administrative region of the PRC under the one country two systems formula, and said that "a small number of countries, the U.S. foremost amongst them" are "using Taiwan to contain China." Notably, the new white paper excluded a part that previously said the PRC would not send troops or officials to Taiwan after unification.

Africa

During Xi's administration, China has maintained cordial relationships with each Africa government except Eswatini, which recognizes Taiwan but not the PRC. Xi's diplomatic rhetoric links the China-Africa Community of Shared Future to the concept of the Chinese Dream. Although Xi has generally prioritized relations between the CCP and political parties in the Global South, Xi has especially prioritized such party-to-party relations in Africa.

At the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi emphasized the "Five Nos" which guide its foreign policy in dealing with African countries and other developing countries: (1) non-interference in other countries' pursuit of development paths suitable to their national conditions, (2) non-interference in domestic affairs, (3) not imposing China's will on others, (4) not attaching political conditions to foreign aid, and (5) not seeking political self-interest in investment and financing.

Under Xi, China has cut back lending to Africa after fears that African countries couldn't repay their debts to China. Xi has also promised that China would write off debts of some African countries. In November 2021, Xi promised African nations 1 billion doses of China's COVID-19 vaccines, which was in addition to the 200 million already supplied before. This has been said to be part of China's vaccine diplomacy.

Americas Canada

In January 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made an official visit to China and met with Xi Jinping. During his official visit to Beijing, Carney announced the formation of a "new strategic partnership" with China.

United States