China’s Xi calls for cooperation during World Economic Forum.
Xi’s opening speech at forum touts cooperation
GENEVA – Chinese President Xi Jinping called Monday for greater world cooperation against COVID-19 and said China would send an additional 1 billion doses of vaccine to other countries, while urging other powers to discard a “Cold War mentality” at a time of rising geopolitical tensions – a veiled swipe at the United States.
The Chinese leader touted his country’s efforts to share vaccines, fight climate change and promote development at home and abroad as he delivered the opening speech of a virtual gathering hosted by the World Economic Forum. The online event is being held in place of its annual January meeting in Davos, Switzerland, because of health concerns linked to the pandemic.
The global outbreak that has claimed over 5.5 million lives and upended the world economy was another theme. In a panel session on the virus, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the vaccine maker was working on a single-shot booster for both COVID-19 and the flu, while U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci lamented as “very disturbing” the reluctance of many Americans to follow basic measures like mask-wearing and getting vaccinated.
“This is such a formidable virus,” Fauci said, noting the difficulty in achieving herd immunity because of the tendency of immunity to fade, even after vaccination. “You make the virus have an advantage when you don’t implement in a unified way all the very well-recognized public health measures, particularly the vaccines.”
Xi said in his speech that China has exported over 2 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to over 120 countries and international institutions. He announced plans to provide an additional 1 billion – including a donation of
600 million doses to Africa and an extra 150 million to Southeast Asia.
By comparison, managers of the U.N.-backed COVAX program to ship vaccines to developing countries announced over the weekend that it has now delivered 1 billion vaccine doses.
Xi touched on themes from previous talks to international audiences, including responding to trading partners’ complaints by promising to open China’s state-dominated economy wider to private and foreign competition.
His comments come as tensions between the United States and China have simmered on topics like Taiwan, intellectual property, trade, human rights and the South China Sea.
“We need to discard Cold War mentality and seek peaceful coexistence and win-win outcomes. Our world today is far from being tranquil,” said Xi, through a translator. “Protectionism and unilateralism can protect no one. They ultimately hurt the interests of others as well as one’s own. Even worse are the practices of hegemony and bullying, which run counter to the tide of history.
“A zero-sum approach that enlarges one’s own gain at the expense of others will not help,” he added. “The right way forward for humanity is peaceful development and win-win cooperation.”
Xi said China “stands ready to work with” other governments on climate but announced no new initiatives and offered no resources. He said it was up to developed countries to provide money and technology.