Chinese leader Xi Jinping repeated calls for world peace and global cooperation on Oct. 25, in remarks that experts said were a veiled criticism directed at Washington and did little to dispel growing concerns over Beijing’s increasing assertiveness on the world stage. In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of the communist regime being voted to represent China at the United Nations, Xi said Beijing would always be a “builder of world peace” and a “defender of the international order,” according to a statement released by Beijing’s foreign ministry. His remarks came amid intensifying criticism in the West over a range of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aggressions from its trade abuses to rights violations. The regime’s efforts to influence and subvert the U.N. system also have come under growing scrutiny. Without naming any country, Xi said that China opposes “all forms of hegemony and power politics, as well as all …