BEIJING: President Xi Jinping said China and the United States must “find ways to get along” to safeguard world peace and deve­l­o­pment, state media repor­ted on Thursday, as he emba­rks on his precedent-breaking third term in power.

China and the United Sta­tes have butted heads in recent years on issues ranging from Beijing’s aggression towards self-governing Tai­w­an to its crackdown in Hong Kong and alleged rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Washington has also accu­sed Beijing of providing diplomatic cover for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Xi sealed another five years as Chi­na’s leader at the end of a twice-a-decade Com­munist Party Congress on Sunday.

“The world today is neither peaceful nor tranquil,” Xi wrote in a congratulatory letter to the National Comm­ittee on US-China Relations — some of his first remarks since the Congress — according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

“As major powers, streng­thening communication and cooperation between China and the US will help to incr­ease global stability and certainty, and promote world peace and development,” he reportedly told the New York-based non-profit organisation.

Xi added that China was “willing to work with the US to give mutual respect, coexist peacefully... (and) find wa­ys to get along in the new era”, the broadcaster reported.

Doing so “will not only be good for both countries, but also benefit the world”, Xi wrote.

The Biden administration said this month that China is the only competitor to the United States “with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to advance that objective”.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2022