China wants a new world order

Xi wants to shake up the world so China and Russia sit on top.

Xi wants to shake up the world so China and Russia sit on top.

Xi Jinping wants to shake-up the world order and has proposed a new “global security initiative” that would place Russia and China on top.

The Chinese President used a speech to the Boao forum - an Asian non-profit organisation - on Thursday share his plan to dismantle the US-led alliance network and to position his nation as a champion of the developing world.

But it was Mr Xi's thinly-veiled references to America being responsible for the current war in Ukraine — an accusation made explicitly by China’s propaganda machine for months - that will send alarm bells ringing in the West as it comes just days after Beijing struck a new security partnership with the Solomon Islands.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivering his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia.

“Facts have once again proved that the ‘Cold War mentality’ will only undermine the global peace framework. Hegemonism and power politics will only endanger world peace,” Xi said.

The details of the Chinese leader’s world-spanning security proposal were vague.

Xi's tough-guy talk isn't entirely surprising considering China's growing strategic ambition. 

In fact, in February this year US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, warned in an exclusive interview with The Australian that China wanted to dominate the entire world in military and economic power by instituting "a new world order characterised by ­illiberalism."

Illiberalism or an illiberal democracy is essentially the opposite of how countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and United States operate. It describes a governing system that looks like a democracy on the outside, but under the surface citizens are prevented from knowing what those in power are really up to.

"To my mind, there’s little doubt that China’s ambition over time is to be the leading military, economic, diplomatic and political power not just in the ­region but in the world,” he said. 

Xi also used his speech at the Boao forum to suggest the feelings of instability and threat being felt by Western nations were not one-sided as he urged the international community to respect the “legitimate security concerns of all countries”.

Pals in illiberal governments Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping. Picture: Alexei Druzhinin

But those in the know will find Xi's use of this phrase unsettling as it is one  has repeatedly used in its defence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Xi also used one of Vladimir Putin’s signature foreign policy ideas to justify Russia’s Ukraine invasion, “the principle of indivisible security”.

The world has been keeping a very close eye on China in light of the Russian invasion as there are fears the attack could embolden China to take similar military action against Taiwan.