British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is the latest senior official in a steady stream of world leaders visiting China this year.
During her three-day trip this week, Cooper is expected to meet her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing before travelling to the southern tech hub of Shenzhen for a programme focused on science and technology.
According to an Al Jazeera tally, Cooper is the 26th foreign leader or senior official to visit China this year. The list includes presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, crown princes and foreign ministers from 23 countries.
In all, leaders from Ireland, South Korea, Canada, Finland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Germany, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Vietnam, Mozambique, Iran, Tajikistan, the United States, Seychelles, Moldova, Singapore, Serbia, Brazil, and Laos have travelled to China this year.
Global trade and diplomacy
Leaders have come to court China from all the significant regions, including Europe (10), Asia (8), the Middle East (2), Africa (2), North America (2) and Latin America (2).
Among the most prominent have been Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in that order of visits.
The stream of visitors is particularly notable because Chinese President Xi Jinping has spent the year hosting foreign dignitaries at home rather than travelling abroad himself.
Many leaders have come seeking new investment opportunities, greater access to the Chinese market or cooperation in areas such as manufacturing, technology, energy and infrastructure.
Several of the visits have been by leaders and officials from countries that Beijing considers strategically important partners, including Russia and Pakistan, both of which sent multiple senior officials this year.
For many countries, China is simultaneously an important export market, a source of investment, a diplomatic partner and an increasingly influential geopolitical power.
Visits dominated by European leaders
Europe has been especially well-represented, accounting for roughly one-third of the countries on the list.
Visits by leaders from the UK, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Finland suggest that European governments are eager to engage closely with Beijing despite disagreements over trade, security and China’s relationship with Russia.
Who are China’s biggest trading partners?
China’s total foreign trade in goods hit a record high of 45-trillion-yuan ($6.5 trillion) in 2025, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs, maintaining its position as the world’s largest trading nation in goods for the ninth consecutive year.
Late last year, China’s trade surplus – the difference between the value of goods it imports and exports – was reported to have hit $1 trillion for the first time, a significant yardstick in the country’s role as “factory of the world”, making everything from socks and curtains to electric cars.
China has a diverse range of trading partners. Its largest is the US. In 2025, despite aggressive tit-for-tat tariffs levied by each side for much of the year, total goods trade between the two countries was worth $414.7bn, according to the US Trade Representative.
Vietnam ranks second, reflecting the rapid development of Southeast Asian supply chains, followed by Japan, South Korea and India.
The table below shows China’s imports, exports and trade balance based on 2024 data, the latest year for which global figures are available.
What does China sell to the world?
Over the past few decades, China has shifted from producing low-cost manufactured goods like T-shirts and shoes to higher-value products such as electric vehicles and solar panels.
Today, its largest sector is electronics, with more than $1 trillion worth of electronic goods exported worldwide in 2024.
Its top exports also include machinery, textiles, metals and cars. The graphic below shows the country’s top exports by product in 2024.
