Asia-Pacific region should not return to Cold War tensions, warns Xi Jinping at APEC

Ahead of a virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that the Asia-Pacific region must not return to the tensions of the Cold War era. In a recorded video message to a CEO forum on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit hosted by New Zealand, the Chinese president said that the attempts to draw ideological lines or form small circles on geopolitical grounds were bound to fail.

"The Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not relapse into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era," Xi said.

By this, Xi was referring to US efforts with regional allies and partners including the Quad grouping with India, Japan and Australia.

Tensions between China and the US have escalated in the recent years as US has raised its concernsabout Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea. US has also expressedits stance on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan.China's military onTuesday said thatit conducted a combat readiness patrol in the direction of the Taiwan Strait.

Meanwhile, in what came as an unexpected declaration at the COP26 climate meeting, China and the US agreed to increase climate cooperation over the next decade. In a joint declaration, the world's two largest CO2 emitters promised to act.

The countries declared an agreement to redouble efforts to combat climate change with "concrete steps" in an official joint statement released at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

As of now, no date has been announced for the Xi-Biden meeting. However, a person briefed on the matter said that it was expected to be as soon as next week.

The week-long annual forum is being conducted online by New Zealand as thehost.