Skip to main content

President Xi: There is no point blaming globalization for all problems


The World Economic Forum has got into full swing on Tuesday with the speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping on globalization and mounting public hostility in the West.
Addressing the forum, the Chinese president said: ”The voices attacking globalization have laid bare the pitfalls facing globalization and we need to take this seriously." 
President Xi insisted that there is “no point” blaming globalization for all the problems facing the world.
He cites the flow of refugees from the Middle East and Africa a global concern but not one caused by opening up markets.
Xi is the first Chinese leader who has attended the annual meeting of political leaders, CEOs and bankers in Davos. His appearance comes as the part the US plays as a force for multilateral cooperation is in doubt following the election of Donald Trump.
The founder of World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab said Xi's presence in the meeting was a sign of the shift from a uni-polar world dominated by the US to a more multi-polar system in which rising powers like China will have to step up and play a bigger role.
Reports say more than half a dozen senior Chinese government figures will be in Davos this week, far more than in past years. And a large number of sessions are focused on Asia, including one entitled "Asia Takes the Lead".
Xi's appearance comes amid rising tensions between China and the US president-elect Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday, the final day of the Davos meeting.
Trump has promised to confront China more aggressively on trade. He broke with decades of precedent last month by taking a congratulatory telephone call from the president of Taiwan, which Beijing sees as part of China.
China, the world's top exporter, is heavily dependent on free trade and could be hit hard by a new wave of protectionism.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Iran, Turkey, Qatar mull land route amid Saudi crisis

Turkey seeks to establish a land route via Iran for trade with Qatar which has relied on both countries for sourcing food since a diplomatic crisis broke out with Saudi Arabia. Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Saturday was in Tehran where he was expected to discuss using Iran’s land route to facilitate trade with Qatar, Anadolu quoted him as saying. "We're thinking about alternatives for land trade routes with Qatar but the easiest way is passing through Iran," Zeybekci said, according to the news agency.  He traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in of President Hassan Rouhani along with delegates from around the world. It was not immediately clear who was representing Qatar in the ceremony.  Turkey has used a land, air and sea blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to flood the tiny peninsula in the Persian Gulf with its goods but Zeybekci said using cargo planes to carry products was no...

China punishes thousands over misuse of govt. funds

China has punished 8,123 people for committing fiscal violations after an audit of how the government's 2016 central budget was spent revealed multiple problems, the Xinhua state news agency reported. Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office, announced the infringements while briefing lawmakers on Saturday, Xinhua said. A broad anti-graft campaign in China, aimed at rooting out deep-seated corruption in the ruling Communist Party, including the misuse or embezzlement of government funds, has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials. Hu said that of the offenders, 970 were punished for misusing funds earmarked for a poverty relief campaign intended to lift everyone in rural areas out of poverty by 2020. Another 1,363 were punished for irregularities in the use of funds meant to provide affordable housing, she said. She said 800 people in state-owned enterprises and 73 people in eight major banks were found to have committed violations, along with 505 people who...

38 dead, 92,000 left homeless by Niger floods

Recent heavy floods in Niger have killed more than three dozen people and left tens of thousands of others homeless, a United Nations (UN) report says. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on Wednesday that, since June, at least 38 people had lost their lives and more than 92,000 had been made homeless as a result of torrential rains and heavy downpours in the West African country. The Nigerien government had put the number of fatalities at 14 before new flooding in August. The OCHA, citing government figures, also noted that more than 9,000 homes had been destroyed and more than 26,000 heads of livestock lost. Over 50,000 people had received aid from NGOs and many of the homeless had been sheltering in schools and public buildings, it added. The Nigerien National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued a warning last month, advising residents along the Niger River to evacuate immediately to safer ground over the likelihood of...