Xi warns against one civilization imposing itself on others

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday warned of disaster if any civilization sought to impose itself on others, calling the idea “stupid” as his country heads for an economic showdown with the US.

At the opening session of the Conference on Asian Civilizations Dialogue, Xi said “no civilization is superior over others” and there was no need for them to clash. “If someone thinks their own race and civilization is superior and insists on remoulding or replacing other civilizations, it would be a stupid idea and disastrous act,” Xi said here.

His remarks were in obvious reference to the US State Department official Kiron Skinner’s statement that Washington was “in a fight with a really different civilization and a different ideology and it was facing a “great power competitor that is not Caucasian”.

The world’s two largest economies are locked in an ugly trade dispute wherein both have slapped punitive tariffs worth billions of dollars on each other’s goods. Their conflict worsened last week after Washington increased taxes on Chinese products worth $200 billion. Beijing retaliated by raising tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods from June 1.