Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping vowed in a speech at the conclusion of China’s annual legislative sessions on Monday that the Communist Party would seek a more prominent role on the world stage pursuing the “reform and construction of the global governance system.”
China under his third tenure as president – to which he was unanimously “elected” by the National People’s Congress (NPC), the federal-level legislature, last week – Xi said, would work to “create a favorable international environment for our country’s development.”
Xi was speaking at the conclusion of the “two sessions” of the NPC and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which meet annually to draft new laws for the country. The Communist Party completely dominates both bodies and blocks any diversity of opinion; the Party typically prepares a slate or policy topics to address prior to the meeting.
The “two sessions” are also used to choose new members of Xi’s cabinet and, in theory, select a president. In practice, Xi has eliminated any Communist Party members that may pose a threat to his supremacy or present as potential successors, leaving him surrounded by elderly leaders and no viable alternatives to lead the country.
Xi used his concluding speech to the NPC on Monday to celebrate China’s expanding global influence and promise that he would dedicate his efforts in the next year to reshaping the world to look more like China. Xi did not spend significant time on the problems facing Chinese people at home, according to reports in both Chinese state propaganda and international media, such as the collapse of the nation’s birthrate, its stalling economy, crippling shortages of basic medicines, and international corporations moving business to neighboring countries such as Vietnam and India.
“We will be dedicated to peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, stand firmly on the right side of history, practice true multilateralism, and uphold the shared values of humanity,” the Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper quoted Xi as saying on Monday.
“The Chinese president said that China will play an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system,” the Global Times shared, “contribute its share to building an open world economy, advance the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, add more stability and positive energy to the peaceful development of the world.”
The “Global Development Initiative” and “Global Security Initiative” are vague proposals spearheaded by Xi in which China pressures other countries to abandon the “excessive pursuit of self-interest” and instead pool their resources to allegedly promote world peace and eradication of poverty. The “Global Security Initiative” is of particular concern to free countries as it does not appear to contain any concrete demands for action outside of failing to oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s interests. In debuting the initiative in April 2022, Xi said partners in the project must “stay committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture,” as well as “oppose the pursuit of one’s own security at the cost of others’ security.”
The Chinese government has not at press time elaborated beyond the lofty goals of the initiative initially proposed by Xi.
Elsewhere in his remarks on Monday, Xi promised that China would inject “positive energy to world peace and development and create a favorable international environment for our country’s development.”
While emphasizing an alleged commitment to world peace, Xi also commended the NPC for increasing the Chinese defense budget by 7.2 percent during this month’s meeting, the largest increase since the novel coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Xi insisted China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should be equipped to serve as a “great wall of steel” against foreign influence.
“We should comprehensively promote the modernization of national defense and military construction, and build the people’s army into a great wall of steel that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security, and development interests,” Xi asserted.
Xi’s calls for China to lead the globe to an era of world peace, in addition to raising questions about China’s ballooning military budget, also appears to contradict his remarks at the beginning of the legislative sessions. Last week, Xi claimed that the United States had organized a worldwide conspiracy to destroy modern China and Chinese people must prepare to annihilate the nation’s rivals.
“Western countries, led by the United States, have implemented all-round containment and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented severe challenges to the country’s development,” Xi said in an address to the NPC. “In the face of profound and complex changes in the international and domestic environment, we must remain calm, maintain concentration, strive for progress while maintaining stability, take action, be united and dare to struggle.”
Speaking to the CPPCC, Xi encouraged its members to “have the courage to fight as the country faces profound and complex changes in both the domestic and international landscape.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Wang Wenbin echoed the thoughts of Xi Jinping on March 13, not March 6, praising his own country for its role in a landmark agreement last week between geopolitical rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic representation to each other’s countries. The deal arose after talks between representatives of both nations in Beijing.
“The Beijing dialogue is a robust and successful effort to put the Global Security Initiative (GSI) into practice,” Wang told reporters during his regular press briefing. “Tactics like ‘bolster one and bash the other’ or ‘divide and rule’ or ‘bloc confrontation’ have never been proven to work on security issues.”
“China will continue to contribute its insights and proposals to realizing peace and tranquility in the Middle East and play its role as a responsible major country in this process,” Wang said, hinting and more future meddling in the region by China. “It is our hope that more and more countries will join us in implementing the GSI to realize enduring peace and universal security.”
Wang did not clarify what exactly nations need to do to join the “Global Security Initiative.”
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