On 21 September, the 76th session of the UN General Assembly was held, the first time since the outbreak of the epidemic that the UN General Assembly was held in a hybrid online and offline manner. Of course, this is also Biden's debut in the United Nations General Assembly after he became the president of the United States. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, also attended the meeting by video and delivered an important speech.
The leaders of the two major countries in China and the United States spoke at intervals of several hours on the same occasion, which made the outside world pay special attention. Some observers have pointed out that although neither of the two heads of state mentioned each other in their speeches, many of them were actually said to the other side.
Biden's "not seeking a new Cold War" has become the focus of international discussion. Some commentators believe that this sentence directly points to the current Sino-US relations. It is worth mentioning that on September 18, UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised a warning before the UN General Assembly debate began: China and the United States should avoid falling into the Cold War, and called on the two countries to repair the "completely out of balance" bilateral relations. White House press secretary Psaki responded on the 20th that Sino-US relations "are still competition rather than confrontation." This statement is considered to be a moderate cooling of Guterres's "warning". CBS said Biden's speech at the Unipotentiated General Assembly was a response to Guterres' warning about U.S.-China relations.
"To resolve international affairs, we must not proceed from the so-called 'position of strength' and promote hegemony, hegemony, and bullying, still less can we undermine the international order and create confrontation and division under the banner of so-called 'rules.'" At today's (22nd) press conference, Zhao Lijian also responded to Biden's relevant statements, he said, "We hope that relevant countries can keep up with the trend of the times and look at China and China's development objectively and rationally." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > cooperation under competition How do we think about it? </h1>
Although the outside world is pessimistic about Sino-US relations, we can still see some progress in Sino-US cooperation in many specific areas.
In response to climate issues, President Xi Jinping announced in his speech at the UN General Assembly that China will no longer build new offshore coal power projects and vigorously support the green and low-carbon development of energy in developing countries. This is a very heavy commitment, and the relevant statement has also aroused great concern from the outside world.
U.S. Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Kerry responded quickly, welcoming China's relevant decision, saying that "this is a major contribution." Sharma, president of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also welcomed the decision. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement saying he was "encouraged" by the climate commitments announced by the leaders of China and the United States at the general debate of the U.N. General Assembly.
Shenzhen Satellite TV direct news noted that the US climate envoy Kerry has visited China twice, and the purpose is very clear. Ahead of Kerry's second visit to China, the Wall Street Post reported that During his visit to China, Kerry would propose to the Chinese side to stop funding international coal-fired projects. However, the outside world noted that Kerry did not publish any joint statement after the visit, which triggered a lot of discussion, and many media directly questioned "Is the talks without substantive results?" "Is there no room for cooperation between China and the United States on the issue of gas change?"
Up to now, China's public statement at the UN General Assembly has shown that there is still room for cooperation between China and the United States in relevant fields, and communication and dialogue are still maintained. This undoubtedly sends a lot of positive signals to the world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="48" > after two weeks of talk, has the fuehrer consensus been implemented? </h1>
At a press conference today (22 February), Zhao Lijian also reviewed several direct contacts between China and the United States since the Biden administration took office, particularly emphasizing that the Chinese and US heads of state reached an "important and positive consensus" on promoting The return of Sino-US relations to a healthy and stable development track during the two phone calls on Chinese New Year's Eve and September 10. This also means that from the general direction, China believes that the contacts and dialogues between China and the United States for some time have been beneficial to the development of bilateral relations and have accumulated some substantive results.
It is worth mentioning that it is about two weeks since the first seven months of the us dollar to call again. In a phone call on September 10, Biden said that there is no reason for the two countries to fall into conflict due to competition, and the United States is willing to carry out more frank exchanges and constructive dialogue with China. Today, Biden also stressed in the Unjung the United Nations General Assembly that "no new Cold War is sought." In the eyes of the outside world, the statement that the US side does not want China and the United States to fall into an all-round confrontation is also very true.
However, Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News noted that "competition" is still a high-frequency word in Biden's speech. French media commented that although Biden claimed that "the United States does not seek a cold war with China, the United States will not relax its competition with China, or even fierce competition." ”
It must be pointed out that while it is important to take a stand, the specific actions of the United States are more indicative. Shortly before the ungain general assembly, the United States, britain and Australia announced the establishment of the "AUKUS" (Australia-Anglo-American Alliance) to share advanced defense technology aimed at countering the so-called "China threat". After the end of the UN General Assembly, the "QUAD" composed of the United States, Japan, India and Australia will also gather in the White House, and they also have a strong pertinence to China. How many substantive moves the US side has made on "not seeking a new Cold War" and where is the boundary between fierce competition and confrontation, we still have to play a big question mark.
"Biden's real intention is to isolate China, and the next U.S.-Japan-India-Australia summit he's going to participate in, as well as the core allies of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia that are now being built, are all aimed at isolating China." Yin Gang, a researcher at the Institute of West Asia and Africa of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Shenzhen Satellite TV that "for China, isolation is more unfavorable than the 'new Cold War'. This also means that although the United States "does not seek a new Cold War," this does not mean that the Biden administration will abandon the overall strategy of "containing" China and containing China. In this regard, China will also be prepared at any time.
In addition, recently, some US officials have anonymously told the media that the dialogue and communication between the United States and the United States have not worked well for some time, accusing China of being "tough" and "having no intention of conducting serious or substantive talks.". The logic behind this remains that China is responsible for the current U.S.-China relationship.
"China's attitude toward Sino-US dialogue and communication has always been serious and clear and consistent. We welcome dialogue and communication, but we must respect each other; we support coordination and cooperation, but we should be mutually beneficial and win-win," Zhao Lijian said.
Zhao Lijian also further clarified what the Chinese side opposes. First of all, it is the US side that makes small moves before and after the dialogue and smears China's provocations. Combined with the China-US heads of state dialogue, the United States immediately launched the "Australia-Britain-US Alliance" and the "Group of Four Summit", and we can also clearly feel who this is for.
Second, Zhao Lijian said that what china opposes is that the UNITED States interferes in China's internal affairs and harms China's interests, while at the same time wants china to help on issues of concern to the United States. Combined with the previous three-pointer of "cooperation, competition and confrontation" of the US side, while hoping that the United States will cooperate in the field of climate issues, and on the other hand, it will make small moves on the Issues involving Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan. We can also assess whether the US side will listen to these words from the specific actions of the US side in the coming period of time.
Author: Zhu Endi, a reporter in Beijing for Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News.