China urged to set aside ideological differences with West to ‘avoid being isolated’, embrace competition
- Beijing is currently facing growing pressure from Washington and its allies over trade, investment and technologies, including 5G and semiconductor development
- Pro-reform speakers at the second Qujiang Forum in Xian, organised by the China Finance 40 Forum think tank, urged Beijing to consider its relations with the West
China should play down its ideological differences with the West as much as possible and instead highlight competition in the fields of technology and economics to ensure a favourable international environment for the nation’s development, a key Chinese pro-reform figure has urged.
The Biden administration is seeking to form a united front with its allies to rein in China, while criticising the country’s human right record and renewing calls for probes into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, with China’s leadership hitting back by urging the United States to abandon its “ideological biases”.
“Now is not the time when [China] needs to compete with the West in the field of ideology,” said Li Ruogu, a former chairman of the Export-Import Bank of China.
“Our main issue is still the development [of the economy and society], without which there will be so many problems we cannot resolve,” Li added on Saturday at the second Qujiang Forum in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province.
We need to have trump cards in technology, having the ability to fight back; on the other hand, in politics, we should not only avoid being isolated but also need to unite more countries to stand together