China claims it is not seeking global hegemony

China yesterday celebrated the 40th anniversary of economic reforms in a context of international distrust due to the growing economic and political influence of Beijing on the world scene. Aware of this, the one and a half hour speech Xi Jingping delivered in the Great People’s Palace in Beijing focused on reassuring the great world powers that his country has no intention of dominating the world.

Xi reiterated the line of his recent discourse and reaffirmed the Chinese government’s commitment to the multilateral trading system and the opening of its economy to the world. The Chinese leader did not, however, announce any initiative to counteract economic slowdown or overcome trade frictions with the United States. What he did make clear was that China’s development will not be “against the interests of other countries.”

China’s expansion around the world, from Asia-Pacific to Africa and beyond, has triggered alarm bells in many countries, especially the great powers, who see their economic, and lately also political and even cultural, hegemony endangered.

But for the Chinese president, this is nothing but a way of approaching the centre of the world stage, which, he said, does not pose a threat to any country as long as China is developing.