The leader of China’s Communist Party, Xi Jinping, proposed an image of friendship and peace across Asia—with the People’s Republic of China at the center—at a major address Sunday, conveniently setting aside what a number of neighboring countries regard as China’s provocative behavior in the region over the last several years.
Xi’s speech at the Boao Forum for Asia, a major annual event sponsored by China meant to mirror Switzerland’s World Economic Forum, was titled Towards a Community of Common Destiny and A New Future for Asia.
The speech was heavily laden with such commonalities as, “We have only one planet, and countries share one world.”
A good portion of the remarks were spent narrating the shared difficulties of the world: low growth, low demand, high debt, and more. “Geopolitical factors are more at play and local turmoils keep cropping up,” were among the choice observations Xi shared with his audience.
