China highlights differences with US at UN

United Nations: Beijing’s differences with Washington over trade, international organisations, Iran and Cuba were on stark display at the UN on Saturday, two days after the summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

China’s Vice President Han Zheng laid out the differing worldviews at the General Assembly but did not name the US directly, calling it a “relevant authority.”

On Thursday, Trump had lavishly feted Xi and given him a personal airport reception, but China held firm to its positions, seeking to project itself as another global power centre.

Han said China believed countries’ sovereignty and security in the Middle East, including the Gulf, should be respected. This was a reference to the Gulf conflict initiated by Israel and the US when they bombed Iran in February, plunging the region into confrontation.

“We should settle differences and disputes through dialogue and consultation, and oppose unilateral military actions that violate the UN Charter and circumvent Security Council authorisation,” he said.

However, observers noted Beijing’s double standards, pointing to its actions along the Line of Actual Control with India and in the South China Sea, where it has confrontations with the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. China also lays claim to Taiwan and threatens it with military manoeuvres.

Han said the international system should be centred on the UN, with a vision of “common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” contradicting Trump’s policies to downgrade and bypass it.

Reacting to tariff wars and US restrictions on trade, he said: “We must firmly safeguard the WTO-centred, rules-based multilateral trading system, build an open world economy, jointly foster and strengthen new growth drivers, and see that economic globalisation is inclusive and delivers benefits to all.”

“Protectionism produces no winners,” he added, warning that decoupling and cutting off supply chains disrupt global industrial and supply chains and harm all parties.

In what was seen as a riposte to Trump’s threats and denigration of nations, Han said: “Condescension and the self-centred mindset have no place in the interactions among different cultures.”

On Cuba, Han urged the “relevant country” to stop using threats of force and to lift the blockade and sanctions against Havana.

IANS