Wellington: Chinese President Xi Jinping Asia-Pacific warned on Thursday against a return to Cold War-era divisions as tensions mounted over security Taiwan,
In order for an anticipated virtual summit with the US President Joe Biden Earlier next week, Xi said countries in the region should work together on common challenges ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to trade.
“Efforts to draw ideological lines or create smaller circles on geopolitical grounds are bound to fail,” he said in a virtual business conference on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit hosted by New Zealand.
“The Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not be relegated to the confrontations and divisions of the Cold War era.”
Xi’s call came hours after China and the United States announced a surprise agreement to accelerate climate action at a summit in Glasgow, where countries are trying to agree measures to halt Earth’s warming. Huh.
The Chinese leader did not directly refer to the US deal, but said “we can all walk the path of green, low-carbon sustainable development”.
“Together, we can usher in the future of green development,” he said.
Chinese and US leaders will “soon” hold virtual talks, according to US Secretary of State Antony Chamak,
Reports say that the meeting will be like next week.
But while the Biden administration has identified the climate as a key area for possible cooperation with China, tensions have risen over their rival security strategies in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Taiwan.
Beijing has intensified military activities near Taiwan, a self-governing democracy claimed by China, with a record number of planes infiltrating the island’s air defense detection area in early October.
Against that backdrop, Secretary of State Blinken on Wednesday underscored US military support for Taiwan.
“We will make sure Taiwan has the means to defend itself because the objective here is never to get to the point where someone is really trying to disrupt the status quo,” he said at an event organized by The New York Times. Is.”
But in a message delivered by Beijing’s ambassador to the United States at a lavish dinner in New York on Tuesday evening, China’s leader offered a conciliatory message.
According to an embassy statement, Xi said, “Right now, Sino-US relations are at an important historical juncture. Both countries will benefit from cooperation and harm from confrontation.”
He said China stands ready to work with the United States to improve regional and global cooperation and “properly manage differences”.
In addition to its position on Taiwan, China also claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which billions of dollars in shipping trade pass annually, rejecting competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. .
Against that background, the United States, Britain and Australia announced in September that they had formed a new alliance – AUKUS – under which Australia would acquire nuclear-powered submarines using American technology.
Although the deliveries are years away and China was not specifically named, the announcement angered Beijing and separately sparked a raging dispute with France, which scrapped its deal to sell Australia’s conventional submarines.
In his address to Asia-Pacific business leaders, Xi called for a joint effort across the region to close the “vaccination gap”, making COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to developing countries.
“We must translate the consensus that vaccines are good to ensure their fair and equitable distribution into concerted action for a global public,” he said at the summit.
The Chinese leader said countries should increase cooperation in research, production, testing and mutual recognition of vaccines, “to emerge from the shadow of the pandemic and achieve stable economic recovery as soon as possible”.
In order for an anticipated virtual summit with the US President Joe Biden Earlier next week, Xi said countries in the region should work together on common challenges ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to trade.
“Efforts to draw ideological lines or create smaller circles on geopolitical grounds are bound to fail,” he said in a virtual business conference on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit hosted by New Zealand.
“The Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not be relegated to the confrontations and divisions of the Cold War era.”
Xi’s call came hours after China and the United States announced a surprise agreement to accelerate climate action at a summit in Glasgow, where countries are trying to agree measures to halt Earth’s warming. Huh.
The Chinese leader did not directly refer to the US deal, but said “we can all walk the path of green, low-carbon sustainable development”.
“Together, we can usher in the future of green development,” he said.
Chinese and US leaders will “soon” hold virtual talks, according to US Secretary of State Antony Chamak,
Reports say that the meeting will be like next week.
But while the Biden administration has identified the climate as a key area for possible cooperation with China, tensions have risen over their rival security strategies in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Taiwan.
Beijing has intensified military activities near Taiwan, a self-governing democracy claimed by China, with a record number of planes infiltrating the island’s air defense detection area in early October.
Against that backdrop, Secretary of State Blinken on Wednesday underscored US military support for Taiwan.
“We will make sure Taiwan has the means to defend itself because the objective here is never to get to the point where someone is really trying to disrupt the status quo,” he said at an event organized by The New York Times. Is.”
But in a message delivered by Beijing’s ambassador to the United States at a lavish dinner in New York on Tuesday evening, China’s leader offered a conciliatory message.
According to an embassy statement, Xi said, “Right now, Sino-US relations are at an important historical juncture. Both countries will benefit from cooperation and harm from confrontation.”
He said China stands ready to work with the United States to improve regional and global cooperation and “properly manage differences”.
In addition to its position on Taiwan, China also claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which billions of dollars in shipping trade pass annually, rejecting competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. .
Against that background, the United States, Britain and Australia announced in September that they had formed a new alliance – AUKUS – under which Australia would acquire nuclear-powered submarines using American technology.
Although the deliveries are years away and China was not specifically named, the announcement angered Beijing and separately sparked a raging dispute with France, which scrapped its deal to sell Australia’s conventional submarines.
In his address to Asia-Pacific business leaders, Xi called for a joint effort across the region to close the “vaccination gap”, making COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to developing countries.
“We must translate the consensus that vaccines are good to ensure their fair and equitable distribution into concerted action for a global public,” he said at the summit.
The Chinese leader said countries should increase cooperation in research, production, testing and mutual recognition of vaccines, “to emerge from the shadow of the pandemic and achieve stable economic recovery as soon as possible”.
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