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Xi speaks at BRICS business forum
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- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — collectively known as BRICS — will hold their 14th summit virtually today. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech (Ch/En) at the opening of the BRICS Business Forum yesterday. An international order under the UN charter that endorses peace, development, cooperation, and openness is at the heart of Xi’s message.
- President Xi appeared to criticize the U.S. and its NATO allies for creating the Ukraine crisis without naming them. “Believing in the status of strength, expanding military alliances and seeking one’s own security at the expense of other countries’ security will inevitably fall into a security dilemma,” the President said. Xi also blamed the “negative” economic policies of developed countries and the abuse of sanctions for global economic slowdown and current setbacks in globalization.
- At the same time, Xi brought up his recent Global Security Initiative
(全球安全倡议) and Global Development Initiative (全球发展倡议), which advocate a more inclusive and sustainable pattern of global interaction. The expression that all countries have “equal rights, equal rules, and equal opportunities” (各国权利平等、规则平等、机会平等) was first used to describe China’s vision of international order in the speech. President Xi also defended China’s COVID policies and invited more business and investments to China.
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Fed treads carefully between inflation control, recession
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- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified (prepared testimony, video) in front of the Senate Banking Committee a week after the central bank added an aggressive 0.75% to its benchmark interest rates. Although stressed the necessity of ongoing rate increases and America's capacity to handle the measures, Powell admitted it would be “very challenging” to achieve the Fed’s goal of a soft landing.
- In the question-and-answer session, the Fed chief said
it is not inevitable to provoke recession, but “it’s certainly a possibility,” especially given what happened in the last few months. Policy makers have to be nimble in the uncertain environment, Powell said. He told the press after the hearing that another 0.75% or 0.50% rate hike is possible next month.
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