Original article (in Albanian) was published on 15/05/2026; Author: Patris Pustina
While the United States has made Iran’s abandonment of nuclear weapons development a non-negotiable condition, Albanian-language social media has been circulating claims that Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the United States and Israel to do the same. These posts frame the claim as a major diplomatic “provocation” and as evidence of a radical shift in China’s global strategy, but verification shows that such statements are not found in any official sources.
This claim appears to have originated from various Facebook pages and accounts on Twitter/X that share clips and images of Xi Jinping taken out of context. These accounts are not official sources, but rather pages that often circulate false information or conspiracy narratives.
The story relies on dramatic framing to suggest that China is directly confronting Western powers and leading a new global order. Mentions of the “Third World,” “de-dollarization,” discounted oil purchases, and closer ties with Iran are used to build the idea of a coordinated anti-Western strategy. However, these are well-known, long-standing economic and diplomatic trends and do not provide any evidence of a statement made by Xi Jinping.
As noted in a fact-check by Fact Crescendo, an examination of archives from China’s state broadcaster CCTV, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other official Beijing sources found no record of Xi Jinping ever calling for the United States or Israel to abandon their nuclear weapons. No such statement has been reported by reputable international media outlets such as Reuters or BBC, which would likely have covered it immediately if it had occurred.
In reality, China’s official nuclear doctrine is based on the “No First Use” policy, under which it would only employ nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack. China has historically supported gradual, multilateral nuclear disarmament through international frameworks, rather than issuing direct public demands to individual states.
