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Ruled with a hard hand in Beijing: Xi Jinping
Photo: PASCAL BITZ / WEF HANDOUT / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Listening to speeches by Chinese politicians has always been tedious, and as an entertainer, President Xi Jinping does not stand out above his predecessors.
But when he speaks in a video address in front of the Davos World Economic Forum, as on Monday, you should take the time to listen a little more closely.
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After all, he speaks for a regime that currently considers itself to be almost invulnerable and whose next steps will have consequences for almost all countries.
Similar to his much-noticed Davos speech in 2017, Xi once again swung himself up to be the standard bearer of international cooperation, an advocate for developing countries and a champion against protectionism and isolationism.
But a few crucial nuances have changed.
China's state media were already preparing Xi's speech overnight for the domestic audience and sending out some "golden sentences" on the censored Internet.
This propaganda push will pass many Chinese people like many others before it;
they know the jargon.
For western observers, however, it is interesting which sentences Xi used this time, what they mean and which contradictions they contain.
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