A rare wave of "Prime Ministers Visiting China" has quickly unfolded at the start of 2026. The Prime Minister of Ireland is visiting China for the first time in 14 years, the Canadian Prime Minister in 8 years, and the Finnish Prime Minister in 17 years. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set foot in China on Jan. 28, marking the first visit by a UK Prime Minister in 8 years. Germany's Merz has also confirmed a visit in February. Previously, French President Macron was the first to visit China last December.
These countries are all developed Western nations, with France, the UK, Germany, and Canada together representing a significant portion of the G7 group, traditionally a stronghold of the US-led Western camp. The collective high-level visits to China within just a few weeks are uncommon.
In today's chaotic world, maintaining and restructuring the international order faces even more daunting challenges. As President Xi Jinping pointed out during a meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Orpo, "Major powers must take the lead in advocating equality, rule of law, cooperation, and integrity." Yet, what Western countries have witnessed recently is the harsh reality of equality, the rule of law, cooperation, and integrity being brutally trampled. The US engages in brazen tariff extortion and often withdraws from agreements, treating various pacts as mere scraps of paper. Not only has it invaded sovereign nations and abducted presidents, but it has also openly extorted territories from allies, leading Europe to organize an "Eight-Nation Alliance" to counter US pressure.
For many years, these Western countries have been deeply intertwined with the US in areas such as economic trade, industrial supply chains, and military security. Now, they have become leverage and shortcuts for US interests. The financial, technological, trade, and military tools that once supported the international order are now all weaponized. The facade of "American peace" covering "American hegemony" has been completely torn away. The US has taken the jungle law of the survival of the fittest and social Darwinism to an arrogant extreme, rendering rules nonexistent. A broader spectrum of countries, including developed Western nations and US allies, increasingly recognize that following the US leads to nowhere, and confrontation offers no solutions.
Looking eastward to China, one can contrast stability with chaos, certainty with turmoil, equality with bullying, and dialogue with confrontation, presenting two starkly opposing pictures. China's dynamic and rapidly developing certainty, its stance against hegemony, commitment to peaceful coexistence, and focus on open cooperation and mutual benefit have become rare commodities that these Western countries urgently need. China is committed to institutional openness, resolving conflicts through consultation and dialogue, and addressing issues at the negotiating table. In contrast, a hegemonic power tends to overturn the table at the slightest dissatisfaction.
Therefore, the underlying logic of the "Prime Ministers Visiting China" wave is that Western countries are voting with their feet, making a rational and pragmatic choice for stability, certainty, fairness, and justice. China should fully seize this opportunity during the process of reshaping the international order, continuing to expand its circle of friends, gathering positive energy, and accumulating strategic initiative, benefiting itself and the world.
(Source: Ta Kung Pao)
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