[China's senior diplomats have become popular because of their anger against the United States, and they ask questions again after 18 years, and France and Japan avoid the focus]
Recently, the 19th "Shangri-La Dialogue" postponed for two years due to the impact of the new crown epidemic finally kicked off, without exception, Sino-US relations still dominate the theme of the entire summit, and senior Chinese diplomats who have attracted wide attention for angering the US defense minister at the time have not changed their sharp way of asking questions after 18 years.
The Shangri-La Dialogue was born in 2002, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, England, and the Asian Security Conference in Singapore, and is scheduled to be held every June at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore.
Looking back at the theme of the past 18 "Fragrant Meetings", Sino-US relations have always been the core, and this time is still no exception. It was only surprising that the host of the "Incense Society" still remembered the "confrontation" between The Chinese and American representatives at the venue 18 years ago. He even added a sentence when introducing Cui Tiankai, who was the Chinese ambassador to the United States in the Chinese delegation: "Today, you are here again."
According to the Observer Network, the second plenary session of the "Xianghui" was successfully held on the afternoon of June 11, local time, with the theme of "Managing Geopolitical Competition in Multipolar Regions". At the meeting, the Defense Ministers of France, Indonesia and Japan all spoke on the theme. This was followed by a ministerial roundtable and Q&A session, chaired by John Chipman, Head of the UK Institute for International Strategic Studies.
It was in this session that Zipman said, "I want to solemnly introduce a person", that is, Cui Tiankai in the Chinese delegation. And after Cui Tiankai took the microphone, after he asked questions about France and Japan, he once again became the "highlight" of the day's meeting.
Cui Tiankai first expressed his affirmation of certain situations, such as the Indonesian defense minister's statement of "solving the problem in an Asian way" and expressed his gratitude for this. Because compared with the statements made by US Defense Secretary Austin in his malicious smear of China that morning, saying that China adopted a "coercive and aggressive" attitude toward neighboring countries, the attitude of the Indonesian defense minister is more conducive to the peaceful development of Asia.
He then asked the key question to French Defense Minister Le Kornou and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, respectively: Is France really prepared to look at "solving problems in an Asian way" in a respectful and appreciative way? Does France really not want to impose a NATO or European approach on Asia? Is Japan still trying to discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea?
The above questions are very concerned about the existence of Asian countries, Cui Tiankai's question is to the point, but in the end, the answer of the questioner is to avoid the important and light.
Le Cornu's answer mentioned many aspects, such as the environment, fish rights, covid-19, etc., but for the core issues he only emphasized that France advocates multilateralism and listens to the needs of all countries in the region, which is the "regional way" that the French need to defend, and does not mention the "Asian way" at all.
Kishi's answer also contains many aspects, even using the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as a "subject that ignores the rules", but on the issue of nuclear wastewater, he only gave a vague answer that the Japanese side would discharge it into the ocean after proper and thorough treatment.
Since its inception, the "Xianghui" has been regarded as one of the highest-level defense summits in Asia, and each session will be discussed by officials at the level of defense ministers. Since China has shown a "rising trend" since the beginning of the 21st century, the defense issues related to China at each "incense meeting" will be a hot topic. Cui Tiankai, then director of the Asia Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry 18 years ago, became the "highlight of the meeting" because of the "dialogue confrontation" between him and the US defense minister 18 years ago.
According to the Observer Network quoted by the Indian media in 2005, the then US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld made a lot of speeches on China's internal situation and military expenditure issues in his speech, including many unkind remarks against China. In this regard, Cui Tiankai was the first to raise his hand to ask a question, and the host of the meeting at that time was Zipman.
After receiving Zipman's name, Cui Tiankai first questioned the US Defense Secretary's mention in his speech that "no country threatens China" and asked the other side whether they really believed such a statement.
In this regard, Rumsfeld originally gave a very firm answer, and asked Cui Tiankai, "Does the United States feel threatened by the so-called 'rise of China'?" At first, he remained arrogant, claiming that the United States would not feel threatened by China's rise, and then talked about how China should govern in the future.
Perhaps he soon realized that it was inappropriate to talk about other people's domestic affairs at such a meeting, so he could only think of ways to find ways to make up for it, and finally had to make up for it, and finally had to decide to scribble the topic by himself Chinese. In this way, the dialogue between Chinese and American officials not only caused a commotion in the venue, but also became the front page of many media the next day.
It is also evident from Zipman's still remembering this incident after 18 years that Cui Tiankai's question at that time caused a big sensation, and how much the development of Sino-US relations has attracted the world's attention
