His speech cast China as a defender of the world order and was filled with flourishes and imagery inflected with Chinese culture. He also paused for a romantic, notably personal reflection about his observations as a first-time featured speaker at the United Nations — what he saw when he arrived and how he perceived it. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementMultilateralism is always a foundational theme at the United Nations — no surprise for a world body specifically designed to promote such a notion. China, though, tends to use multilateralism as a means to its own ends — as a counterbalance to “hegemonists,” for decades its favored synonym for the United States. Even as it rises as a world power, China emphasizes multilateralism regularly but often acts to the contrary in areas of dispute and disagreement.