China Leads The World In Number Of Diplomatic Posts

The Chinese embassy in Port Vila. ABC: Nick Sas

The Guardian: China leads world in number of diplomatic posts, leaving US in its wake

Beijing opens five posts in past two years as US is caught ‘in a period of limbo’ and Australia trails at 27th

China has ambitions to rival the US as the world’s diplomatic superpower with Beijing’s foreign affairs ministry running more embassies and consulates around the world than Washington’s state department, which still has a quarter of its key positions unfilled.

The 2019 Lowy global diplomatic index maps the size and reach of 61 diplomatic networks around the world by embassies, consulates, permanent missions and other diplomatic posts.

Tracking all G20 and OECD countries, and most Asian nations, it showed an emerging China rivalling and, numerically at least, surpassing the US, caught “in a period of limbo”.

China has 276 posts, three more than the US, and 96 consulates to the US’s 88, a reflection of its emphasis on its economic and diplomatic interests.

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WNU Editor: China's global business interests is what is driving this diplomatic push. Millions of Chinese citizens are also travelling as tourists, and they have an expectation that there is a Chinese diplomatic post in the country that they are visiting. It is also a question of prestige and image. The Chinese want to be seen as a global super power, and having a fully functional diplomatic post in almost every country in the world is part of that goal.