China Tops Global Diplomacy Index

China has the most diplomatic posts abroad out of any country in the world, according to the Lowy Institute’s 2024 Global Diplomacy Index, published Sunday. Close on its heels comes rival global superpower, the United States.

As the following chart shows, China and the U.S. are the world heavyweights when it comes to diplomatic efforts, with a total of 274 and 271 posts abroad, respectively. China overtook the U.S. as the world’s leading diplomatic nation back in 2019 and has maintained the position ever since.

According to the institute, Beijing has a higher number of diplomatic postings than Washington in Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, as well as Central Asia, following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the U.S. is ahead diplomatically in Europe, North and Central America and South Asia. Both nations are now matched for posts in the Middle East and South America.

A number of so-called middle powers are also strengthening their networks though. Türkiye rose to rank three this year (up from rank 5 in 2023), while India is now in position 11 (up from rank 12 in 2023). These two countries have the fastest growing networks of the Index. Of India’s 11 new posts since 2021, eight of them have been in Africa.

The 2024 Global Diplomacy Index reveals the diplomatic networks of 66 countries and territories in Asia, the Group of 20 (G20) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).