At the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia held in Hainan, Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping said in his speech that in the era of economic globalization, artificial “building walls” and “decoupling” are against the laws of the economy and market rules, to the detriment of others and themselves. The Communist Party of China (CPC) advocated that Asia and other countries in the world should strengthen global governance and move forward toward building a community of human destiny. Scholars believe that Xi’s speech confirms the “One Belt, One Road”, the Communist Party’s version of globalization.
On the morning of April 20, the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) 2021 Annual Conference was held in Boao, Hainan, where Communist Party President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech by video titled “Overcoming Hardships in the Same Boat, Creating a Common Future with Destiny”. He pointed out that the world is currently entering a period of turbulent change. China advocates that countries in Asia and the world should “join hands to overcome the epidemic, strengthen global governance and move forward in the direction of building a community of human destiny.”
A comprehensive and protracted Cold War showdown between China and the West
Independent Chinese scholar Cha believes a new cold war between China and Western democracies, including the United States, has begun. He said, “It will be a comprehensive and protracted strategic showdown dominated by confrontation and supplemented by cooperation.”
Xi, who attended a major international event for the first time this year, criticized the West by name in his speech, saying that in the era of economic globalization, openness and integration is an unstoppable historical trend, and artificial “building walls” and “decoupling” are against economic laws and market rules. It is detrimental to others and to oneself. He also stressed that when countries get along with each other, we should put equality, mutual respect and trust in front of each other, and it is unpopular to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries at every turn.
Wu Qiang, a former lecturer at Tsinghua University’s political science department, believes that the timing of Xi’s speech is very important for China as the diplomatic war between China and the United States is in full swing. And Xi released two important messages in his speech: “The first point is that his Belt and Road reference reconfirms that China is going for a Chinese version of globalization, neoliberal globalization, which is his biggest strategic attempt to revise globalization into a Communist Party-led version, with the Belt and Road at its core, of course.”
China is not capable of constructing a global order system
However, Xi Jinping did not propose at the meeting, the 21st century global order and principles in question. Wu Qiang said, “He was emphasizing relations between countries on a rather emotional level, but did not propose an abstract something about the principles of the 21st century global order. This expression reflects the fact that China is not capable of taking on the impact of the Chinese version of globalization, and while accepting neoliberal globalization, is not capable of constructing a principled discourse or system of global order.”
Wu does not see Xi’s criticism of the West for “artificially ‘building walls’ and ‘decoupling'” and “undermining others for their own benefit” as a hard-line statement. “The mutual respect and trust he talks about does not solve these conflicts, but actually expresses a difficult problem himself.”
Mr. Jiang, a scholar of Zhejiang literature and history, told the station that Xi Jinping’s criticism of certain countries at the Boao Forum for Asia, without naming them, was actually directed at the United States: “The target of the attack was the Western democracies led by the United States, and he mentioned ‘building a wall’ and ‘decoupling He mentioned ‘building a wall’ and ‘decoupling’ to the detriment of others, and this accusation is a typical double standard. Because it (the Chinese government) is building walls and decoupling, such as its Internet firewall, which has resulted in some of the most popular applications such as Google, Facebook and Twitter being unable to enter China.”
Dozens of dignitaries are missing representatives of major Western countries
According to official announcements, this year’s Boao Forum for Asia featured participants from more than 60 countries, with 40 dignitaries and former dignitaries and dozens of leaders of international organizations in attendance. Except for South Korea and New Zealand, the rest are representatives of Asian and African countries.
At the Boao Forum for Asia meeting, Communist Party Vice President Wang Qishan was scheduled to speak before Xi Jinping’s visual address, and Wang spoke off script at the beginning, stating that he was only the temporary moderator and that it was Xi Jinping who should deliver the real address. Wang Qishan said that he was there, the organizers always have to give him a role, he will be as a “temporary host”.
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