Xi calls for unity in Davos speech in 2021; first remarks of the Biden era

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged the international community to put its differences aside, warning that history has shown that countries that choose to go it alone “will always fail.”

Speaking via video conference as he addressed 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 improve the situation for all, we must stand united and work together,” he said.

“We have been shown time and again that begging your neighbor, going it alone and falling into arrogant isolation will always fail. Let us all join together and let multilateralism light our way towards a community with a common future for humanity, ”Xi added, according to the translated remarks.

The comments come less than a week after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, with outside spectators closely monitoring the impact of a change in US leadership on strained diplomatic relations.

Biden is generally expected to keep 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 pandemic. of coronavirus.

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, voluntarily imposing decoupling, disruption of supply or sanctions, and creating isolation or estrangement will only push the world to division and even confrontation, ”Xi said. , without naming another nation or head of state.

“We cannot meet the common challenges in a divided world and the confrontation will lead us to a dead end.”

Relations between China and the United States have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Former US President Donald Trump has sought to pursue an “America First” foreign policy approach and has frequently clashed with an increasingly assertive China.

Biden has previously sought to reverse some of his predecessor’s policies, signing an executive order on day one of his tenure to join the Paris climate accord and reversing the planned departure from the World Health Organization.

In a move that analysts said was designed to test Biden’s level of support in Taiwan, Chinese Air Force planes are said to have entered the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone for a second consecutive day over the weekend.

China regards the democratic and autonomous island of Taiwan as its territory and insists that it does not have the right to participate in international diplomacy alone. Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state.

In the first statement on Taiwan since Biden came to power last week, the US State Department on Saturday reaffirmed its “rock solid” commitment to helping it defend itself.

The World Economic Forum, which has been criticized in the past for being out of touch with reality, is being held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. A physical congregation of business leaders, political thinkers and global heads of state is scheduled for Singapore in May.