In a repeat of his speech from four years ago in the aftermath of the Trump election when he defended globalization and the Paris Climate Agreement, Xi Jinping addressed the virtual meeting of Word Economic Forum in Davos [China’s Xi warns against ‘new Cold War’]. He promoted the idea of globalisation, warning against isolationism and ‘protectionism’, and ‘wilful decoupling’ that can lead to a ‘new Cold War’, which in turn leads to more ‘division and even confrontation’ in the world. Instead he advocated for multilateral fora such as G20, where the rules and norms of global economic interactions should be set. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is currently one of the most forceful drivers of economic globalisation.
Without mentioning Trump, Biden, or the US by name, the speech was clearly meant to warn the new Biden administration not to continue the protectionist policies of the Trump administration. Biden has promised to build an alliance of ‘likeminded nations’ to counter Chinese influence in the world. Xi also touched on that, arguing that building ‘small circles’ in the world to ‘threaten or intimidate others’ can only further destabilize the world. Four years ago, Trump didn’t attend the meeting for anti-globalization and America-first reasons. This time Biden didn’t attend, to take care of urgent policy issues at home. John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, represents the US in this year’s event which is heavily focused on the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.
Mamad Forough
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