US and China envoys tone down hostility as they spar over multilateralism
Top diplomats from Beijing and Washington have praised multilateralism at a United Nations Security Council meeting, but in thinly veiled criticism accused each other of undermining it.
“Splitting the world along the ideological line conflicts with a spirit of multilateralism, and is a regression in history,” said Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who chaired the meeting.
Soon afterwards, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “We will continue to push back forcefully when we see countries undermine the international order, pretend that the rules we’ve all agreed to don’t exist, or simply violate them at will.”
The comments, delivered in prepared speeches, come amid a severely deteriorated US-China relationship, with tensions running high over human rights, trade policy and territorial claims along China’s periphery.
It was the second meeting – this time, a virtual one – for Wang and Blinken during the Biden administration.
When the two diplomats sat down for talks in Alaska in March, they lashed out at each other in front of cameras – vivid evidence of the antagonism that continues to grow between the world’s two largest economies.
The UN meeting on Friday took on a more civil tone. When Blinken finished his remarks, Wang, who spoke first, offered a brief reply: “I’m sure that all countries would be glad to see the United States changing course and making a real contribution to practising multilateralism.”
China has bristled at the Biden administration’s embrace of alliances and its new-found emphasis on uniting the world’s democracies – a bloc Beijing sees as working to stifle China’s rise, which the US says is not true. President Joe Biden has said he would host a “democracy summit” of world leaders at the White House.
The US has accused China of committing genocide against Uygurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region, and has charged Beijing with violating trade global rules and grabbing territory in the South China Sea. China rejects those claims.
Blinken’s remarks made clear that the Biden administration’s stance on global institutions, including the United Nations, differs radically from that of former president Donald Trump.
In his speech, Blinken criticised the previous administration and said that all nations must accept scrutiny for their actions, including the US.
“I know that some of our actions in recent years have undermined the rules-based order and led others to question whether we are still committed to it,” Blinken said. “Rather than take our word for it, we ask the world to judge our commitment by our actions.”
Despite the rising tensions with the US, the European Union, India and numerous Southeast Asian nations, Wang offered a more glowing assessment of his own country’s actions in comparison, describing China’s “continuous contributions to world peace” over the last 50 years, since Beijing rejoined the UN.