China’s Xi Touts Party’s Common Ground With Foreign Nations

(Bloomberg) -- China's President Xi Jinping warned against politicizing the pandemic in a speech to a summit of political organizations from around the world that sought to show the ruling communist party's broad foreign support.

“The achievements of the Chinese Communist Party cannot be separated from the support of people around the world,” Xi told the online gathering of representatives from about 500 political parties in 160 countries, which was organized by China.

Much of the speech was devoted to finding common ground between nations, and China's willingness to work with other countries. Political parties “should join the interests of people in each nation with those of the world,” Xi said.

“Humanity is an entity and Earth is our common home,” and people should stand against unilateralism and hegemony, he said.

Xi adopted a broadly softer tone than the rhetoric he used in a speech broadcast last week to the nation of 1.4 billion people that seemed designed to build nationalist backing for his party on its 100th anniversary. “The Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, coerce and enslave us,” he said.

China and the U.S. remain at odds over a range of issues, from technology and trade to the origins of the coronavirus and Beijing's policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. China and the European Union have also struggled to cooperate as the bloc's leaders have turned sharply toward criticizing Beijing's human rights record.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron pressed Xi in a video summit Monday to allow more flights from Europe as they sought to repair ties with Beijing.

Negative views of China remain near record highs across the developed world, recent polling by Pew Research Center found. Majorities in 15 of the 17 advanced economies surveyed this year hold an unfavorable opinion of China, including record highs in Canada, Germany, South Korea and the U.S., according to Pew.

The World Political Parties Summit that Xi addressed Tuesday was organized by the Central Committee's International Department, which call it a platform for outreach to foreign nations.

With assistance from Bloomberg