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.

The main findings are the following:

• The Chinese foreign policy establishment saw the Trump Administration’s trade war as a dangerous, though not irreversible challenge to China’s core interest, and clearly signalled their determination to resist American demand for one-sided concessions.
• Beijing consistently espoused its readiness to use military means to reunify with Taiwan, and sought to align other countries positions on the status of Taiwan with its own. Despite a growing assertiveness in Beijing generally, on both Taiwan and Europe, there remained an awareness that China’s opportunities were limited.
• Beijing identified Europe as one of the (potential) poles in a multipolar global system, where there exists much more compatibility than competition between European and Chinese interests.
• Chinese analysts and policy-makers 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. Nevertheless, there appears to be a consensus that Russia remained a valuable partner in reshaping international institutions to better reflect Beijing’s vision of multipolarity.