Xi Skips UNGA After Trump Summit, China Balances Soft Power with U.S. Ties

China touts multilateralism and growing soft power even as Beijing gives greater weight to its relationship with Washington

Xi’s Absence from UNGA

· Xi Jinping did not attend the UN General Assembly after his three-day summit with Trump in Washington.

· Analysts say Beijing prioritized parity with the U.S. over multilateral appearances.

· Xi has addressed UNGA in person only once (2015), appeared virtually in 2020–21, and delegated speeches to other officials in other years.

Han Zheng’s Speech

· China’s Vice President Han Zheng represented Beijing at UNGA.

· Called for respect of Middle Eastern sovereignty, a two-state solution for Palestine, and rejection of unilateral military actions.

· Urged dialogue, consultation, and opposition to bloc confrontation.

China’s Soft Power Push

· Promotes initiatives on development, security, civilisation, governance.

· Pew survey: U.S. favorability fell to 36% (2026) from 58% (2023); China’s rose to 46% from 32%.

· Global Soft Power Index: U.S. still No.1 but declining; China holds No.2 with modest gains.

Limits of Beijing’s Influence

· Analysts note China’s rhetoric often outweighs resources; reduced Belt and Road spending due to economic strains.

· Few nations adopt China’s governance model despite infrastructure projects.

· China seen as strong in coalition building with Global South, but limited in attracting followers to its vision.

Context: Middle East & U.S.-Israel Tensions

· Ongoing Iran war (started by Trump & Netanyahu) nearing 7 months.

· Netanyahu’s fiery UNGA speech drew boos and walkouts; accused diplomats of hypocrisy.

· Trump notably did not meet Netanyahu in New York, signaling cooler ties.

· Gaza death toll exceeds 73,600 Palestinians since Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Strategic Messaging

· Xi’s absence underscores China’s focus on bilateral U.S. relations over multilateralism.

· Han’s remarks reinforced China’s image as a champion of sovereignty and dialogue.

[ABS News Service/28.09.2026]

Han Zheng, China’s vice-president, called on “major countries” to respect the sovereignty and security of Middle Eastern nations and bring about a two-state solution for the “Palestinian question” on Saturday at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in an implicit dig at the US and Israel.

This came as some analysts questioned why Chinese President Xi Jinping opted not to address the global body given his three-day summit in Washington with US President Donald Trump this week – despite the short distance between New York and Washington, Beijing’s long-standing assertions on the UN’s importance and active campaign to build soft power and promote its global initiatives.

“Many months ago, Chinese officials said that Xi wouldn’t go to the UN unless it was to mark a major anniversary,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Seems like a missed opportunity.”

Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has addressed the annual General Assembly gathering once in person, in 2015 for the 70th anniversary. He appeared by video in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic but missed the 80th anniversary last year when Premier Li Qiang spoke. In other years, China has generally been represented by other senior officials, including Han and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

China has also placed significantly more importance on Washington relations than on multilateral issues, analysts said.

This week’s summit mirrored its counterpart hosted by China for Trump in May – limited to 48 hours with no side trips or multilateral events – to underscore the geopolitical parity Beijing sees as its due.

“He’s not giving America any more honour than Trump gave to the Chinese,” said Jeffrey Moon, principal at China Moon Strategies, a former US consul general in Chengdu. “In the Chinese psyche, that was more important than attending UNGA. Somebody else can do the speech.”

“Protocol-wise, [Xi’s appearance] would get slightly more benefit. But not appearing to be anything less than equal to the US would be probably more important.”

Among the initiatives China has promoted at the UN in recent years, touted by Han on Saturday, are its vaguely worded global development, security, civilisation and governance initiatives aimed at promoting prosperity, stability, mutual trust and procedural justice.

These dovetail with China’s growing global reputation.

A Pew Research Centre survey released this month found that US favourability across 20 countries was 36 per cent in 2026, down from 58 per cent in 2023, while China’s rose to 46 from 32 during the same period.

A Global Soft Power Index released in January saw the US maintain its No 1 ranking with a score of 74.9 out of 100 but it recorded the largest decline among the 193 countries ranked, while China strengthened its No 2 position modestly with a score of 73.5.

“It is difficult not to make a connection between some of the ‘America first’ policies and the negative turn of the US perceptions internationally,” the survey said, adding that China’s “soft power gains are underpinned by a long-term policy-led programme”.

Some wonder how much of the change is due to China’s actions, however, and how much to Trump’s deeply unpopular foreign policy, damaging tariffs, military adventurism and threats against long-standing allies.

While it has strongly supported multilateralism and the UN Charter, China has not always walked the walk, some argue.

“To fill the lane that America’s retreat has opened … China will need to put forward resources, not just rhetoric,” said Ryan Hass, a director at the Brookings Institution and former US National Security Council official. “Beijing clearly has ambition. I’m not clear that they’ll be able to realise it.”

Analysts say China attributes the Soviet Union’s demise and what it sees as America’s inexorable decline to being overstretched, including the US actions in the Middle East.

“Historically, global leaders have spent pretty generously to realise their vision of revising the international system. Beijing has not,” added Hass, a former US diplomat in Beijing, citing reduced Belt and Road Initiative largesse, perhaps given economic weakness and high youth unemployment at home.

While nations welcome Chinese infrastructure projects and preferential lending, few appear keen to follow its governance model, Hass said.

“They’ve been very tight-fisted,” he added. “It is striking how little progress Beijing is making in attracting followers to its vision. It reflects the limits in Beijing’s ability to attract support.”

Others said it may be unrealistic to expect China to fill the US void.

“The US has burned so many bridges and China has taken over so completely,” said Marc Limon, executive director of Universal Rights Group, a civic group based in Geneva. “They’re very good at coalition building with countries of the Global South. They have a huge number of friends. They really do try to help.”

Han’s speech on Saturday comes as the Iran war started by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nears its seventh month. Earlier in the week, in a fiery exchange, Netanyahu accused UN diplomats of “mind-blowing hypocrisy” over protests as he addressed the assembly on Thursday.

Envoys booed loudly and many walked out during his speech, prompting him to accuse those leaving the cavernous hall of being “moral cowards”, claiming that many of their same nations had “privately thanked us for taking out Iran’s nukes”.

Relations between Trump and Netanyahu have also grown notably cooler recently. Trump chose not to meet Netanyahu earlier this week when they overlapped in New York.

The death toll now exceeds 73,600 Palestinians in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, as Netanyahu revs up campaigning for his late October re-election bid.

Han on Saturday called on the international community to respect the sovereignty and security of Middle Eastern nations.

At a thinly attended Saturday morning session, Han called on the international community to “reject the Cold War mindset and bloc confrontation”.

“We should settle differences and disputes through dialogue and consultation, and oppose unilateral military actions that violate the UN Charter and circumvent Security Council authorisation.”

He also called for efforts to safeguard peace, rebuild trust and reject unilateralism at the expense of multilateralism, echoing themes voiced this week by Wang.

China’s vice-president did not join Xi during the Washington summit that saw Trump meet Xi on the tarmac when he arrived Wednesday evening. The Chinese president did not bestow the same honour on Trump when he landed in Beijing in May, a role he delegated to Han.