The Chinese foreign policy establishment appear determined to resist Trump’s trade offensive. They have espoused a vision for a multipolar world organised through multilateral international institutions that better reflect China’s status.

This brief examines publications, interviews, and statements on foreign policy issues from Chinese officials and state-affiliated analysts in the six months to mid-May 2025, compiling over 80 different sources. It covers four areas: the exchange of trade restrictions between China and the US; Taiwan’s reunification with China and other countries’ stance on the matter; tensions between the US and its European allies; and the Russia-Ukraine War.

Key findings

• The Chinese foreign policy establishment saw the Trump Administration’s trade war as a dangerous challenge to China’s core interest and clearly signalled their determination to resist.
• Beijing consistently espoused its readiness to use military means to reunify with Taiwan and sought to align other countries positions with its own.
• Beijing identified Europe as one of the (potential) poles in a multipolar global system and much more compatibility than competition between European and Chinese interests.
• Chinese analysts and policymakers saw the continuing Russia-Ukraine War as causing unwelcome complications for its relations with other European states, and continued to avoid endorsing Moscow’s policy on Ukraine.