Daily US Times: China’s President Xi Jinping has sent out a warning to the US president Joe Biden that he risks a new cold war if he continues with the protectionist policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
In an virtual address to the World Economic Forum event, the Chinese president called for a multilateral approach to solving the economic crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic and said the pandemic should not be used as an excuse to reverse globalisation in favour of “decoupling and seclusion”.
Xi Jinping avoided mentioning either Joe Biden or the US by name in his first speech since Donald Trump left the White House last week but made it clear that China would not be dictated to by Washington.
He said: “To build small circles or start a new cold war, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation.”
Repeating the defence of multilateralism made when he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos four years ago, the Chinese president said the alternative was the law of the jungle.
“No global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, global response and global cooperation.”
Biden has given no indication that he intends to soften his predeccessor Donald Trump’s tough attitude towards China and is set to announce a “buy American” procurement policy to boost US manufacturing.
Xi said: “We should build an open world economy, uphold the multilateral trading regime, discard discriminatory and exclusionary standards, rules and systems, and take down barriers to trade, investment and technological exchanges.”
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