Xi Twists Biden's Arm at Davos

Xi Jinping's kick-off appearance at the winter Davos week this Monday had a simple message for newly inaugurated President Joe Biden: bring America back into the fold, or suffer the consequences.

Xi wants the world to believe that it is now China, not the U.S., that forms the linchpin of the international order.

Xi was keen to push China's interests on other fronts as well.

No doubt Xi wishes to maintain elite approval of China's international economic agenda.

At times, the speech veered into parody, such as when Xi implored that "The strong should not bully the weak" - another dig at the U.S., no doubt, but baldly hypocritical given China's recent escalation of tensions with nearly every single one of its neighbors over territorial disputes.

Davos has always been a primarily European event, and the Chinese premier was flanked this year by heavyweights such as French President Emmanuel Macron and outgoing Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, as if symbolic of the growing ties between the EU and China.

In short, Xi wants the world to believe that it is now China, not the U.S., that forms the linchpin of the international order.

https://spectator.org/xi-jinping-davos-speech/