China will never seek hegemony: Xi after Biden's cold war remark

Amidst escalating tension in ties with the US, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday said that disputes among countries “need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation” and urged world leaders to eschew “confrontation and exclusion.”

Addressing the high-level 76th UN General Assembly, President Jinping, via a video link, said that the world needs to advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom, which are the common values of humanity and reject the practice of forming small circles or zero-sum games.

Xi said China would not build new coal-fired power projects abroad. He provided no details, but depending on how the policy is implemented, the move could significantly limit the financing of coal plants in the developing world. “China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” Xi said in his pre-recorded video address at the annual UN gathering. 

“Differences and problems among countries, hardly avoidable, need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect. One country's success does not have to mean another country's failure, and the world is big enough to accommodate common development and progress of all countries,” he said. Xi Jinping’s comments came hours after US President Joe Biden said he did not have any intention of starting a "new Cold War" with China.

The US and China have been locked in a standoff fuelled by major disagreements on issues like trade, technology, Beijing's aggressive moves in the South China Sea, and human rights. “We need to pursue dialogue and inclusiveness over confrontation and exclusion. We need to build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, equity, justice, and win-win cooperation, and do the best we can to expand the convergence of our interests and achieve the biggest synergy possible," he said.

Brazil's health minister tests +ve for Covid

Marcelo Queiroga was the second member of the Brazilian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, to have tested positive to the virus. 
 

Brazil's Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tested positive for Covid  hours after accompanying Pres­ident Jair Bolsonaro to the UNGA on Tuesday. "The Minister is doing well," the statement said.