China’s Xi calls for ‘bridges’ amid trade, diplomatic frictions

BEIJING, June 28 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Friday for the building of “bridges” in the global economy, as Beijing grapples with economic, trade and territorial disputes with neighbours and trading partners.

The world’s second-largest economy will never leave the road of peaceful development, Xi told a conference to commemorate China’s guiding principles for foreign affairs, first formulated 70 years ago.

It will also not become a “strong” state seeking to dominate others, Xi told an audience that included Myanmar’s former president, Thein Sein, and Nong Duc Manh, the former general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

“Facing the history of peace or war, prosperity or unity or confrontation, more than ever before, we need to carry forward the spirit and connotation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,” Xi said.

These first figured in a 1954 pact struck with regional rival India over their Himalayan border. Even so, Indian officials were absent from the front row of the audience reserved for guests of honour.

Since the 1950s, China’s ruling Communist Party has gone from not being recognised by the United Nations to boasting the biggest diplomatic footprint in the world and presiding over an $18.6-trillion economy.

Beijing now signals a desire for other countries to see it as a diplomatic heavyweight, even as other nations accuse it of economic coercion and unfair competition.

After China brokered an unexpected detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia last year, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi said the country would continue to play a constructive role in handling global hotspot issues.
But Beijing’s unwillingness to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its pursuit of a “no-limits partnership” with Moscow present hurdles to that ambition. They saw China skip a summit on a peace conference in Switzerland this month.