China’s Xi wants bigger global role after Saudi-Iran deal

By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press

BEJIING (AP) — President Xi Jinping is calling for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup by hosting talks that produced an agreement by Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic relations. Xi spoke Monday following a legislative session that installed a government of loyalists to tighten his control over the economy and society. Xi gave no details of the ruling Communist Party’s ambitions abroad. But his government has pressed for changes in the International Monetary Fund and other entities that it complains fail to reflect the needs and desires of developing countries.