Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping attended the annual Boao Forum for Asia on April 20 by video message. In his opening speech, he expressed his hope that all countries would join hands to overcome the difficulties of the epidemic, rejected the “New Cold War” and stressed the importance of “multilateralism”. “He also announced that the second Asian Civilization Dialogue Conference will be held after the epidemic.
In the first part of his speech, Xi said: “The world must be fair, not hegemonic. Big countries should behave like big countries and show more responsibility… We should promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and deepen regional economic integration. Artificial ‘building walls’ and ‘decoupling’ are against economic laws and market rules, to the detriment of others.”
Although Xi did not name any country in his speech, Chinese diplomats have recently publicly criticized Washington authorities for “hegemonic” global trade and geopolitics, alluding to the need for U.S. powers to behave more responsibly and with the gravitas of a major power, and opposing the “decoupling” of the United States and China. “.
Since taking office, President Biden has repeatedly emphasized the competitive and cooperative relationship with China, but has not lifted the Trump-era economic and trade sanctions as expected by the Chinese Communist Party.
Xi Jinping also stressed his opposition to any form of “new cold war” and ideological confrontation, “when countries get along with each other, we should put equality, mutual respect and trust in the front. We should promote the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, and promote the exchange and mutual appreciation of different civilizations.” To this end Xi announced that the second edition of the Asian Civilization Dialogue Conference will be held after the epidemic. The conference was first held in Beijing in 2019, when 47 countries, including Cambodia, Greece, Singapore, Sri Lanka & Armenia, participated.
Xi also referred to the global epidemic crisis and “the need to strengthen international cooperation on the New Pneumonia vaccine and promote international cooperation on climate change,” both of which are areas the Biden administration has emphasized for cooperation with China. Xi has also been vying for international leadership in these two areas since last year, first by announcing new carbon reduction targets at the UN General Assembly and then by promoting vaccine diplomacy for developing countries.
Finally, Xi noted, “2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. The CPC works for the happiness of the Chinese people, for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and for the commonwealth of the world. China will continue to be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order. China will always hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win situation, and actively promote the building of a new type of international relations. China will never claim hegemony, expand or seek a sphere of influence, or engage in an arms race, no matter how far it develops.”
Despite this, China has had territorial conflicts with neighboring countries in many places around it since the past year, intimidating its neighbors in different ways, including with Japan in the East China Sea, with India in Ladaka, and with the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea.
Reuters noted that Biden had just met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and both sides shared their concerns about China’s human rights situation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The two sides also promised to cooperate in areas such as 5G and supply chain to maintain leadership.
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