Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday asked the international community to set aside their differences, warning that history shows that countries that choose to go it alone “will always fail”.
Speaking by videoconference when speaking at the annual World Economic Forum, Xi discussed global challenges, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the climate emergency.
“As we face the current crisis and strive to make a day better for everyone, we need to stay together and work together,” he said.
“We have been shown time and time again that impoverishing others, going it alone and falling into arrogant isolation will always fail. We will all join hands and let multilateralism light our way towards a community with a shared future for humanity” Xi added , according to translated comments.
Comments were made less than a week after President Joe Biden took office, with outside observers closely monitoring how a change in US leadership can affect strained diplomatic relations.
Biden is expected to maintain pressure on Beijing on a wide range of issues, including human rights, trade policy, territorial disputes and questions about China’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic.
‘The confrontation will lead us to a dead end’
Speaking at the forum for the first time since 2017, Xi once again promoted a multilateral approach to international affairs.
“Building small circles or starting a new Cold War, rejecting, threatening or intimidating others, deliberately imposing dissociation, interruption of supply or sanctions and creating isolation or estrangement will only lead the world to division and even confrontation,” said Xi, without speaking. appoint another nation or head of state.
“We cannot face common challenges in a divided world and the confrontation will lead us to a dead end.”
The relationship between China and the USA has deteriorated significantly in recent years. Former US President Donald Trump sought an “America First” approach to foreign policy and has frequently come into conflict with an increasingly assertive China.
President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the White House State Dining Room on January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
Biden has already tried to undo some of his predecessor’s policies by signing an executive order on his first day in office to re-join the Paris climate agreement and reverse the planned departure from the World Health Organization.
Taiwan
In a move that analysts said was designed to test Biden’s level of support for Taiwan, Chinese air force planes entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone for the second consecutive day over the weekend.
China sees the democratic and autonomous island of Taiwan as its territory and insists that it has no right to participate in international diplomacy on its own. Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state.
In the first statement about Taiwan since Biden came to power last week, the US State Department on Saturday reaffirmed its “rock-solid” commitment to help it defend itself.
The World Economic Forum, which has been criticized in the past for not being connected to reality, is being held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. A physical congregation of global business heads, political thinkers and heads of state is scheduled to take place in Singapore in May.