China will never seek hegemony: Xi Jinping on Biden’s ‘new Cold War’ comment

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday said that disputes among countries “need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation” and urged world leaders to avoid “confrontation and exclusion.”

Addressing the high-level 76th UN General Assembly, President Jinping said that the world needs to advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom, which are the common values of humanity and reject the practice of forming small circles or zero-sum games.

“Differences and problems among countries, hardly avoidable, need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect. One country’s success does not have to mean another country’s failure, and the world is big enough to accommodate common development and progress of all countries,” he said in a video conference.

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It can be seen that Xi Jinping’s comments came hours after US President Joe Biden said he did not have any intention of starting a “new Cold War” with China.

The US and China have been locked in a standoff fuelled by major disagreements on issues like trade, technology, Beijing’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea, and human rights.

Earlier, high-level talks between the Biden administration and Beijing were fraught with tension – with officials on both sides exchanging sharp rebukes in public.

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“We need to pursue dialogue and inclusiveness over confrontation and exclusion. We need to build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, equity, justice, and win-win cooperation, and do the best we can to expand the convergence of our interests and achieve the biggest synergy possible,” he said.

He also said that the world must improve global governance and practice true multilateralism.

He said the UN should serve as the central platform for countries to jointly safeguard universal security, share development achievements and chart the course for the future of the world.

The United Nations should advance, in a balanced manner, work in all the three areas of security, development, and human rights, Xi Jinping said.

Meanwhile, the US President said that China will firmly oppose any political maneuvering in global COVID-19 origins tracing and continue to engage in the global science-based tracing of the origins of the coronavirus.