Xi Jinping warns against confrontation in veiled message to Joe Biden

In keynote address, Xi Jinping cast himself as a defender of the multilateral order and issued a veiled warning to Joe Biden.

China's President Xi Jinping opens an all-virtual World Economic Forum with a warning to Joe Biden. Picture: Getty Images.

China’s president Xi Jinping has said the “strong should not bully the weak” in a keynote address given days after the rising superpower sent dozens of warplanes into Taiwan’s airspace, engaged in a fresh border skirmish with India and continued a trade retaliation campaign against Australia.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s Davos forum over video, President Xi appeared to use the address to warn President Joe Biden against following the Trump administration’s hard line on China.

China’s leader also took a swipe at groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, which includes America, Japan, India and Australia.

“To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to willfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation,” Mr Xi warned.

China’s president cast himself as a defender of the multilateral order.

“The strong should not bully the weak. Decision[s] should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist,” Mr Xi said.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Mr Xi’s comments would not change the new administration’s approach.

“No, the comments don’t change anything,” Ms Psaki said.

“We believe this moment requires a strategic and a new approach forward,” she said.

China’s aggressive behaviour last year nudged the Quad partners into their first joint military exercises since 2007.

Those Malabar training exercises in the Indian Ocean took place in November, five months after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with the People’s Liberation Army on their disputed mountainous border.

The Indian Army confirmed there was another “minor face-off” last week between the two nuclear powers.

Over the weekend, more than two dozen Chinese warplanes flew over Taiwan, a self-governing island that China maintains is its territory.

In his roughly 25 minute address, Mr Xi warned against “ideological prejudice”, a common refrain by Chinese officials and state media as the Trump administration - particularly former secretary of state Mike Pompeo - directly criticised the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, said: “Difference in itself is no cause for alarm”.

“What does ring the alarm is arrogance, prejudice and hatred,” he said.

Mr Xi said China would continue to champion the interests of the developing world, including the management of COVID-19.

“China will continue to share its experience with other countries, do its best to assist countries and regions that are less prepared for the pandemic, and work for greater accessibility and affordability of COVID vaccines in developing countries,” he said.

Vaccines made by Chinese pharmaceutical companies are currently being rolled out in more than 20 countries, including Indonesia, Turkey and Brazil.

Mr Xi also called for the world to advance reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which came under sustained attack by the Trump administration’s four years in office.

The Morrison government in December took a case against China to WTO, the rule body for international trade, after it imposed an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley exports.

Beijing imposed the barley tariff in May, weeks after the Morrison government called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus without forewarning China.

Xi’s administration has since broadened its trade retaliation campaign to Australian exports to China worth about $20bn a year, including coal, timber, lobsters and wine.

No Australian minister has been able to speak to their Chinese counterpart during the ten month long campaign.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week told The Australian he was open to meeting with President Xi to discuss the tense bilateral relationship, but insisted it must be a “no-conditions” meeting.

In his speech, Mr Xi said China would continue to promote a “new type of international relations”.

“China is working hard to bridge differences through dialogue and resolve disputes through negotiation and to pursue friendly and cooperative relations with other countries on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,” he said.