Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against protectionism in the world as he opened the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum in Beijing on Wednesday (October 18), criticizing Western efforts to reduce dependence on the Chinese economy.
Xi also lauded his grand plan launched 10 years ago of building global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes, saying that “blueprints turned into real projects.”
Representatives of more than 130 countries, largely from the Global South, attended the forum including several heads of state, of whom the most prominent was Xi’s “dear friend” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We stand against unilateral sanctions, economic coercion, decoupling and supply chain disruption,” Xi told more than 1,000 delegates gathered in an ornate conference room in the Great Hall of the People west of Tiananmen Square.
Xi said our lives will not be better and our development will not be faster if we view the development of others as a threat and economic interdependence as a risk.
(Inputs from Reuters)