For subscribers
China’s diplomatic year: A calculated gamble
China has spent 2025 carefully reshaping its global image, but a flare-up with Japan now tests how durable that reset is.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Dec 13 Nanjing Massacre Memorial ceremony in Jiangsu is a reminder of ongoing Chinese tensions with Japan.
PHOTO: AFP
As 2025 draws to a close, Beijing can claim an impressive series of soft-power victories that have reshaped global perceptions of Chinese technological prowess and diplomatic influence.
Yet China’s strong reaction to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan threatens to squander some of these gains, revealing the persistent tension between Beijing’s aspirations to lead a multipolar world order and its reflexive resort to economic and military coercion when its core interests are challenged.
