Civilisations not destined to clash, says Xi Jinping
Chinese president issues major statement calling for openness and deriding isolationism, in an apparent response to US's Trump
Beijing — China will only be more open to the world, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, as he denounced as “stupid” those who believe in cultural superiority, in his first public address since trade tension with the US spiked last week. China and the US are locked in an escalating trade war, with both levying tariffs on each other’s imports. Just before Xi spoke, the government reported surprisingly weaker growth in retail sales and industrial output for April. China on Monday announced higher tariffs on $60bn worth of US goods, effective on June 1, in retaliation for a US decision on Friday to raise levies on $200bn worth of Chinese imports. Xi was addressing a forum in Beijing organised by the propaganda ministry, called the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilisations. He made no direct reference to the trade tension nor to the US, focusing instead on presenting China as a non-threatening country open to all. Chinese civilisation was an “open system” that had continuousl...
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