MINSK, October 31. /TASS/. Today’s world faces unprecedented challenges, the largest being the escalation of regional conflicts, arms race and spread of extremist ideologies, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui said at the 2nd Minsk International conference on Eurasian security.

"Currently, international security is facing unprecedented challenges," he noted. First, the risk of escalation and spread of regional conflicts is growing. […] Second, the global arms race has noticeably escalated. […] Third, extremist ideological trends continue to pop up one after the other."

Li Hui pointed out that there are currently 56 armed conflicts going on around the world, the most on record in the post-World War II era.

"Global military spending has been on the rise for eight years in a row, reaching $2.2 trillion in 2023, with more than half of this sum coming from NATO military spending," he noted.

According to the official, "Western capitalism is caught in an institutional web of problems," and the rise of right-wing populist forces contributed to the spread of racism, nationalism and extremist ideas, which has increased the risk of conflicts.