Former China Hawk Returns to Beijing, Now Defending U.N. Role Amid U.S. Pressure

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Annalena Baerbock, president of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in Beijing on April 29, 2026. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Outspoken China hawk and former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock returned to Beijing on Wednesday, but in a very different capacity as president of the United Nations General Assembly.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi was all smiles when he met with Baerbock, clearly putting aside her once biting critiques of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whom she famously called a “dictator,” and her denunciations of Chinese human rights policies as well as Beijing’s South China Sea territorial claims.

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by Eric Olander

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