Chinese President Xi Jinping warned world leaders against beginning a “new Cold War” at an all-virtual Davos forum on Monday and encouraged global solidarity in the light of the coronavirus disease outbreak.
As the spreading of the pandemic inside its borders has been largely curbed, Xi wants to place China as a key player in the current multilateral global order as the US continues to be crippled by the pandemic.
More Statements About Cold War:
“To build small cliques or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others… will only push the world into division,” said Xi in a likely veiled attack on US President Joe Biden’s plans to revitalize global alliances to counter China’s growing influence.
In a swipe at moves targeting China launched by the previous US administration under President Donald Trump, Xi said the confrontation “will always end up harming every nation’s interests and sacrificing people’s welfare”.
Beijing’s idealistic climate pledges to cut carbon emissions by 65 percent by 2030 and accomplish carbon neutrality by 2060 were also reaffirmed by the Chinese leader — both important obligations as China transmits a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases.
“Meeting these targets will require tremendous hard work from China. But we believe that when the interests of the entire humanity are at stake, China must step forward, take action and get the job done,” he said.
Xi also called for improving international cooperation through multilateral institutions, eliminating barriers to international trade, investment, and technology transfers, as well as for developed countries to be more represented on the global stage.
He emphasized the significance of reinforcing macroeconomic policies to tackle the world economic downturn caused by the disease outbreak.
“We must build an open world economy, firmly safeguard the multilateral trade system, and refrain from making discriminatory and exclusive standards, rules and systems, as well as high walls that separate trade, investment, and technology,” he said.
As per official statistics, China saw its GDP rise by 2.3 percent last year—the lowest growth rate since 1976–but it is still considered to become the only large economy to have grown during the pandemic-ravaged period.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the GDP is also expected to rise by 7.9 percent in 2021–reduced from initial projections by a harsh geopolitical environment, a world economic slowdown, and the threats of a chaotic US technical decoupling.
As per the UN report released this Sunday, it also surpassed the US as the world’s largest beneficiary of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020.
