Hong Kong (CNN) Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged countries not to "close their doors and hide behind them" in his first major public speech since US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods amid an escalating trade war.

Opening the Conference on Asian Civilizations Dialogue in Beijing on Wednesday, Xi said there was no need for "civilizations to clash with each other."

"No civilization is superior over others. The thought that one's own race and civilization are superior and the inclination to remold or replace other civilizations are just stupid," he said, adding to do so would invite "catastrophic consequences."

China retaliated to Trump's latest round of increases on Monday, raising tariffs on roughly $60 billion of US exports. One editorial in state media said "for us, this is a real 'people's war.'"

Chinese president Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations at the National Convention Center in Beijing on May 15.

Trade is just one of several fronts on which the US and China have clashed in recent months. Xi's speech touched on a topic thrown into a spotlight by top US State Department official Kiron Skinner in late April , when she controversially said that China was Washington's first "great power competitor that is not Caucasian."

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