Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said the U.S. risks sparking a “new Cold War” by seeking to rally the world against Beijing and its 21st-century economic model.
In a speech delivered via video to the World Economic Forum, Mr. Xi seemed to take direct aim at President Biden, who has said he wants to hold the international summit during his first year in office and use it to project a unified front of democracies against authoritarian regimes such as China.
Mr. Xi said such an effort will lead to economic division and could pave the way for armed conflict.
“To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to willfully impose decoupling, supply disruptions or sanctions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation,” Mr. Xi said, according to China‘s Global Times newspaper. “We cannot tackle common challenges in a divided world, and confrontation will lead us to a dead end.”
Mr. Xi did not explicitly mention the U.S. during his 30-minute speech, but the tone of his remarks left no doubt he was pointing a finger at Washington.
“The misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of a Cold War, hot war, trade war or tech war, would eventually hurt all countries’ interests,” he said.
Beijing has undertaken a multi-pronged strategy to undermine America’s status as the world’s leading superpower. On the military front, China has challenged the U.S. in the Pacific by expanding its territorial claims in key strategic areas such as the South China Sea.
The Pentagon has responded by routinely conducting “freedom-of-navigation operations” in the region to push back against those Chinese claims.
But China‘s most aggressive offensive has come on the economic front. Beijing‘s “Belt and Road” initiative has led to heavy Chinese investment around the world and new financial partnerships between China and a host of other nations, including some traditional U.S. allies.
Earlier this month, China struck a major new investment deal with the European Union, though the agreement has not been finalized and still must be approved by European Parliament. At the same time, the European Union has proposed a massive new “transatlantic agenda” that would allow the U.S. and EU to write international technology standards, potentially elbowing China away from the table.
Mr. Xi warned against any major economic efforts that don’t include Beijing.
“Multilateralism is about having international affairs addressed through consultation and the future of the world decided by everyone working together,” Mr. Xi said, adding that “to beggar thy neighbor, to go it alone, and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail.”