The Chinese premier made no explicit reference to US President Donald Trump as he addressed the UN General Assembly. But he cast the Asian power as a defender of the global order, of which Washington until recently was the chief custodian.
"The world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation," Li said.
"Unilateralism and (the) Cold War mentality are resurfacing. The international rules and order built over the past 80 years are under serious challenge and the once effective international system is constantly disrupted," he said, adding that humanity had "once again come to a crossroads."
Li criticized the imposition of tariffs, which Trump has seized on as a key tool to pressure countries, even though he has reached a truce with China.
"A major cause of the current global economic doldrums is the rise in unilateral and protectionist measures such as tariff hikes and the erection of walls and barriers," Li said.
"China has consistently opened its door wider to the world."
Li said that China "hopes to work with the rest of the world to uphold the ideals of the UN."
The United States and its Pacific allies have long demanded that China accept the status quo and allow freedom of navigation in the strategic South China Sea, where Beijing has myriad disputes.
The Trump administration, while still critical of China, has shifted away from defending international conventions and instead has emphasized raw US power.
China calls on North Korea to oppose 'hegemony'
Beijing (AFP) Sept 28, 2025 -
Beijing wants to strengthen cooperation with Pyongyang and work together to oppose hegemony, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his North Korean counterpart, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met Wang Sunday in the Chinese capital, weeks after a rare visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who sought to develop the countries' bilateral relations.
"Maintaining, consolidating, and developing China-DPRK relations has always been the unswerving strategic policy of" the Chinese government, Wang told Choe, using the acronym for North Korea.
"China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the DPRK in international and regional affairs, oppose all forms of hegemonism, and safeguard the common interests of both sides and international fairness and justice," he said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.
The comments were a reference to the United States, China's primary competitor in recent years across a wide range of economic and geopolitical arenas.
North Korea's state news agency KCNA said Monday the ministers had agreed fully on a variety of issues in their discussions, according to the Yonhap news agency in South Korea.
The ministers "exchanged views on international and regional issues in depth and reached complete consensus," KCNA said, according to Yonhap.
Despite periods of strained relations between China and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear programme, the two neighbours have maintained close ties.
Kim stood alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijiing this month at a huge military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Beijing is a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state, and the two countries share common opposition to the United States.
Kim has said he is ready to resume contact with Washington if it stops demanding that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons programme.
Pyongyang justifies its nuclear programme by citing threats it claims to face from the United States and its allies, including South Korea.
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