President Xi addresses virtual Davos meeting
January 26, 2021 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
President Xi Jinping elaborated by video link on China’s stance on multilateral?ism and expressed opposition to the building of “small circles” and starting a new Cold War, to the World Economic Forum annual meeting, normally held in Davos, Switzerland, but this year organized digitally. These acts, as well as efforts to “reject, threaten or intimi?date others, to will?fully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanc?tions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation”, Xi said. History and reality have made it clear that the misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of a cold war, hot war, trade war or tech war, would eventually hurt all countries’ inter?ests and undermine everyone’s well-being, Xi said.
The speech was Xi’s second appearance at a Davos event as Chi?nese President. His first was in Jan?uary 2017, when he reaffirmed China’s pledges on supporting eco?nomic globalization and building an open world economy. “We cannot tackle common chal?lenges in a divided world, and con?frontation will lead us to a dead end,” Xi said. Multilateralism is about having international affairs addressed through consultation and the world’s future decided by everyone working together, Xi said. Multilateralism should not be used as a pretext for acts of unilater?alism, and “selective multilateral?ism” should not be an option, he said. Xi noted that state-to-state rela?tions should be coordinated and regulated through proper institu?tions and rules. The strong should not bully the weak, and decisions should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or wav?ing a big fist, he said. “We should respect and accom?modate differences, avoid med?dling in other countries’ internal affairs, and resolve disagreements through consultation and dia?logue,” Xi said. To tackle the challenges of mankind, Xi added, the right approach is to safeguard multi?lateralism and act on the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind.
President Xi called for more efforts to build an open world economy, uphold the multilateral trading regime, dis?card discriminatory and exclusion?ary standards, rules and systems, and remove barriers to trade, investment and technological exchanges. Xi stressed the importance of sticking to the concept of coopera?tion based on mutual benefit and guaranteeing all countries’ equal rights to development. “We should advocate fair compe?tition, like competing with each other for excellence in a racing field, not beating each other on a wrestling arena,” he said.
In his speech, Xi listed four major tasks that should be addressed at the current time, namely stepping up macro-economic policy coordi?nation, abandoning ideological prejudice, bridging the gap between developed and developing nations, and uniting against global challenges. Xi also reaffirmed China’s com?mitment to further boosting open?ing-up, promoting sustainable development, advancing innova?tion and promoting a new type of international relations. He also expressed confi?dence in the global fight against Covid-19 despite its recent resurgence, the China Daily reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the meeting, but U.S. President Joe Biden did not.
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