Chinese dictator Xi Jinping offered millions in investments to global agencies, urged other countries to offer Africa debt relief, and promised the Communist Party would fight neither a “cold war [nor] a hot one” with any country during his remarks at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
Xi did not caveat the latter remark with the fact that Chinese troops killed Indian counterparts on their mutual border for the first time in nearly half a century this summer, or that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has increased its harassment initiatives near Taiwan. Xi also did not address the increasing belligerence of Chinese propaganda initiatives, which this weekend featured a video appearing to simulate a Chinese military bombing of Guam.
Xi focused his remarks on the global response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, largely fueled by his government’s mismanagement of resources and intentional deception regarding the severity of the local outbreak in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic. Xi did not take any responsibility for the pandemic or accept that it had begun in China; the Chinese Communist Party still officially supports an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the U.S. Army released the previously unidentified virus in a laboratory in Maryland.
In focusing on the coronavirus pandemic, Xi did not address significant disputes China has pursued with other countries, including its military invasion of India; its campaign of military harassment against Taiwan; its illegal plundering of Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands; or, perhaps its most alarming human rights violation, Xi’s policy of placing millions of people belonging to ethnic minorities in concentration camps.
Xi asserted that “people everywhere crave more strongly for [sic] peace, development, and win-win cooperation,” but did not use the word “freedom” in any part of his address.
Xi urged the world to follow the lead of the World Health Organization — an agency with close ties to the Communist Party that initially parroted false Chinese information regarding the coronavirus — in policies to contain the ongoing pandemic.
“Any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected,” Xi asserted.
“We should reopen businesses and schools in an orderly way so as to create jobs, boost the economy, and restore economic and social order and vitality,” Xi advised, after presiding over a regime that reportedly welded citizens shut in their homes. “The major economies need to step up micro-political coordination, which would not only restart our own economies but also contribute to global recovery.”
The Chinese dictator also urged other developed countries to offer African countries debt relief to help them fight the coronavirus pandemic. Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi’s flagship policy, African countries have become increasingly indebted to China in the process of agreeing to onerous infrastructure projects. China promises to lend developing countries money to build new ports, railways, or roads — arguing that the projects will bring much-needed jobs to those countries — then demands they use the money to hire imported Chinese workers. In countries like Kenya, local workers say the Chinese treat them with extreme racism, segregating worksites and using racial insults against them.
China has refused to cancel African BRI debt, most recently in April in response to the pandemic.
“COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] will not be the last crisis to confront humanity, so we must join hands and be prepared to meet even more global challenges,” Xi said. “First, COVID-19 reminds us that we are living in an interconnected global village with a common stake. All countries are closely connected and we share a common future. No country can gain from others difficulties.”
Xi also condemned those who rejected growing Chinese communist influence in their economies, under the guise of defending “economic globalization” generally.
“Economic globalization is an indisputable reality and a historical trend. Burying one’s head in the sand like an ostrich in the face of economic globalization or trying to fight it with Don Quijote’s [unintelligible] … let us be clear, the world will never return to isolation and no one can sever the ties between counties,” Xi asserted.
“We should say no to unilateralism and protectionism,” he said.
Xi positioned China as a “defender of international order” and vowed that China would not go to war, despite increasingly aggressive behavior towards its neighbors.
“It is natural for countries to have differences,” Xi said. “What is important is to address them in dialogue … major countries should act like major countries. .. take up their dual responsibilities and live up to people’s expectations.”
“We will never seek hegemony, expansion of [sic] sphere of influence,” Xi promised. “We have no intention of fighting a cold war or a hot one with any country.”
Xi concluded with promises of tens of millions of dollars to the United Nations.
“China will provide another 50 million to the United Nations COVID-19 global humanitarian response plan,” he said. “China will provide 50 million to the china FAO south-south cooperation trust fund phase 3. China will extend the peace and development trust fund between the United Nations and China by five years after it expires in 2025.”
Xi also announced China was planning to develop a “U.N. global geospatial knowledge and innovation center and international research center of big data for sustainable development goals for implementation of 2030 agenda of sustainable development.” He did not elaborate on the details of this initiative, where this hub would be located, or what other countries would participate in its creation.
“Together, we can make the world a better place for everyone,” Xi closed.