Mon January, 2021, Age: 3 years
China’s President Xi Jinping delivered a roughly twenty minute long virtually recorded speech to the World Economic Forum on Monday. The speech touched on a number of topics including China’s willingness to facilitate international trade and the importance of a diverse ecosystem of political systems in the international community. However, the speech was perhaps most importantly a warning against attempts to antagonize and isolate certain countries. “History and reality have made it clear, time and again, that the misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of a cold war, hot war, trade war or tech war, will eventually hurt all countries’ interests and undermine everyone’s well-being.” The speech was delivered less than a week into Biden’s term as President of the U.S., and as the Biden administration is still in the midst of calibrating its approach to China. The leaders of the world’s two largest economies have still yet to speak by phone and, on Saturday, the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. refuted news reports that it had sent a letter proposing a meeting between high level officials to organize a Biden-Xi summit.