Yesterday, President Xi spoke via video call at the Boao Forum for Asia. Here’s a quick snapshot:
COVID: There was no mention of the current outbreak in the country, but Xi repeated the goal of reducing deaths, saying, “We need to work together to defend people’s lives and health.”
Economy: The fundamentals of the Chinese economy “remain unchanged,” but it remains committed to “reform and opening up.”
International relations: Xi told countries to “reject the Cold War mentality, oppose unilateralism, and say no to group politics and bloc confrontation.” He referred to the international community as a ship and how you can’t just throw someone overboard. Xi also floated the idea of a security framework that promotes world peace and respects other countries.
Key comments:
COVID: “We need to work together to defend people’s lives and health. Safety and health are the prerequisite for human development and progress. For humanity to clinch a final victory against the COVID-19 pandemic, more hard efforts are needed.”
Economy: “The fundamentals of the Chinese economy – its strong resilience, enormous potential, vast room for maneuver and long-term sustainability – remain unchanged. They will provide great dynamism for the stability and recovery of the world economy and broader market opportunities for all countries. China will fully apply its new development philosophy, accelerate the establishment of a new development paradigm, and redouble efforts for high-quality development. No matter how the world will change, China’s faith in and its commitment to reform and opening-up will not waver.”
International relations: “We humanity are living in an indivisible security community. It has been proven time and again that the Cold War mentality would only wreck the global peace framework, that hegemonism and power politics would only endanger world peace, and that bloc confrontation would only exacerbate security challenges in the 21st century. To promote security for all in the world, China would like to propose a Global Security Initiative as follows:
It is important that we stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work together to maintain world peace and security; stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, uphold non-interference in internal affairs, and respect the independent choices of development paths and social systems made by people in different countries …”
