INTERNATIONAL: Chinese President Xi Jinping has met the leaders of several more countries on Saturday ,February 5, as Beijing used the start of the Winter Olympics to score diplomatic points amid simmering tensions with the United States.

Following a groundbreaking agreement with Russia on Friday ,February 4, over Taiwan and against NATO expansion, President Xi held meetings with the leaders of Serbia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and hosted a banquet at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Over 30 foreign leaders have travelled to Beijing to attend Friday's opening ceremony. But the United States and other western countries have subjected the Winter Games to a diplomatic boycott amid rising geopolitical tensions and allegations of human rights abuses in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

The Global Times, run by the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily, hit back at foreign media reports that the event had attracted only "authoritarian" leaders, accusing them in an editorial of using "outdated anti-China cliches".

Saturday's Lunar New Year-themed banquet was the first time the Chinese president has joined a gathering of state leaders since before the outbreak of Covid-19 in late 2019.

Toasting his fellow leaders, President Xi has expressed "heartfelt thanks to all governments, peoples and international organisations who care about and support the Beijing Winter Olympics".

"China has made every effort to overcome the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, earnestly fulfilled its solemn commitments to the international community and ensured the Beijing Winter Olympics is being held as scheduled," President Xi has said in a speech published by Xinhua news agency.

It has strengthened China-Russian relations - announced by President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin after they met on Friday - as "an important guarantee for maintaining an international strategic balance, world peace and stability". It has started a new era "not defined by the United States".