BEJIING, 13 Mar: President Xi Jinping called Monday for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup as the host of talks that produced an agreement by Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic relations.
\nXi gave no details of the ruling Communist Party\u2019s plans in a speech to China\u2019s ceremonial legislature. But Beijing has been increasingly assertive since he took power in 2012 and called for changes in the International Monetary Fund and other entities it says fail to reflect the desires of developing countries.
\nChina should \u201cactively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system\u201d and promote \u201cglobal security initiatives,\u201d said Xi, the country\u2019s most powerful leader in decades.
\nThat will add \u201cpositive energy to world peace and development,\u201d Xi said.
\nOn Friday, Xi was named to another term in the ceremonial presidency after breaking with tradition in October and awarding himself a third-five year term as general secretary of the ruling party, putting himself on track to become leader for life.
\nThe National People\u2019s Congress on Sunday cemented Xi\u2019s dominance by endorsing the appointment of his loyalists as premier and other government leaders in a once-a-decade change. Xi has sidelined potential rivals and loaded the top ranks of the ruling party with his supporters.
\nThe new premier, Li Qiang, tried Monday to reassure entrepreneurs but gave no details of possible plans to improve conditions after Xi\u2019s government spent the past decade building up state companies that control banking, energy, steel, telecoms and other industries.
\nLi\u2019s comments echoed promises by other Chinese leaders over the past six months to support entrepreneurs who generate jobs and wealth. They have vowed to simplify regulations and taxes but have given no indication they plan to rein in state companies that entrepreneurs complain drain away their profits.
\nThe ruling party will \u201ctreat enterprises of all types of ownership equally\u201d and \u201csupport the development and growth of private enterprises,\u201d Li said.
\n\u201cOur leading cadres at all levels must sincerely care about and serve private enterprises,\u201d he said.
\nChinese officials earlier indicated anti-monopoly and data security crackdowns that knocked tens of billions of dollars off the stock market value of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and other tech companies were ending. But entrepreneurs were rattled anew in February when a star banker who played a leading role in tech deals disappeared. Bao Fan\u2019s company said he was \u201ccooperating in an investigation\u201d but gave no details.
\nLi said Beijing will make a priority of job creation as it tries to revive economic growth that sank to 3% last year, the second-lowest level in decades. This year\u2019s official growth target is \u201caround 5%.\u201d
\nThe premier expressed confidence China can cope as its workforce shrinks. The number of potential workers age 15 to 59 has fallen by more than 5% from its 2011 peak, an unusually abrupt decline for a middle-income country.
\nLi said that while China is losing its \u201cdemographic dividend\u201d of young workers, better education means it is gaining a \u201ctalent dividend.\u201d He said some 15 million people still enter the workforce every year.
\n\u201cAbundant human resources is still China\u2019s outstanding advantage,\u201d he said.
\nAbroad, Beijing also has built on China\u2019s growing heft as the second-largest economy to promote trade and construction initiatives that Washington, Tokyo, Moscow and New Delhi worry will expand its strategic influence at their expanse.
\nThose include the multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to construct ports, railways and other trade-related infrastructure across an arc of countries from the South Pacific through Asia to Africa and Europe. China also is promoting trade and security initiatives.
\nA \u201cGlobal Security Initiative\u201d issued in February said China is \u201cready to conduct bilateral and multilateral security cooperation with all countries.\u201d It offered to help African countries resolve disputes and to set up a \u201cnew security framework in the Middle East.\u201d
\nAlso last month, Beijing called for a cease-fire in Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Chinese involvement but said success would require action in addition to words. Beijing has refused to criticize President Vladimir Putin\u2019s attack on Ukraine and has accused Western governments of provoking the invasion.
\nXi\u2019s government rattled the United States and Australia in early 2022 when it signed an agreement with the Solomon Islands that would allow Chinese navy ships and security forces to be stationed in the South Pacific nation.
\nThe foreign minister, Qin Gang, warned Washington last week of possible \u201cconflict and confrontation\u201d if the United States doesn\u2019t change course in relations that have been strained by conflicts over Taiwan, human rights, Hong Kong, security and technology.
\nXi called Monday for faster technology development and more self-reliance in a speech loaded with nationalistic terms. He referred eight times to \u201cnational rejuvenation,\u201d or restoring China to its rightful place as an economic, cultural and political leader. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEJIING, 13 Mar: President Xi Jinping called Monday for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup as the host of talks that produced an agreement by Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic relations. Xi gave no details of the ruling Communist Party\u2019s plans in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}