Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) has warned that China does not want to see a new Cold War, emphasizing that throughout his country’s history, peace has “always been the most precious thing.”
Li yesterday told lawmakers in Canberra that China did not want to see countries “taking sides, as happened during the Cold War.”
Li used a lunchtime address to say Beijing pursued an independent foreign policy of peace, and pursued “national development paths suited to our traditions.”
Photo: Reuters
He said China that respected Australia’s chosen foreign policies and that “as long as they are consistent with the United Nations charter and international rules — we will work together to maintain them.”
Li’s explicit warning against taking sides could be interpreted not only as broad ranging diplomatic advice to his host, but a rebuke to Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, who recently said the US remained the pre-eminent global strategic power in Asia, and the “indispensable strategic power in the Indo-Pacific.”
In a rare negative public commentary about China’s political system, the Australian foreign minister also used her speech in Singapore last week to suggest China’s lack of democracy was a constraint on the country reaching its full economic potential.
Bishop is not in Canberra for Li’s visit; she is attending a meeting in the US about the campaign against Islamic State group.
With China’s assertive posture in the Asia-Pacific region generating significant tensions, Li said Beijing was intent on executing a peaceful rise, and was not seeking to display dominance in the region.
He said China wanted to grow its economy, giving people a better life and boosting living standards, and that required “a stable regional environment and a stable world environment.”
“Throughout China’s history, peace is always the most precious thing,” Li said. “That is our tradition. Now China is firmly committed to being on the path of peaceful development.”
“That is determined by our tradition, that is also driven by our reality and it will continue to remain so in the future and that serves the interests of not only the Chinese, but people across the world,” he said.
Li said as China grows in the future, “we will never seek dominance,” and he said China stood ready to work with Australia “for peace in our region, for maritime navigation freedom and the freedom of overflight, and we will continue to do that.”
In Bishop’s Singapore speech, she said that China’s provocative behavior in the South China Sea was one of the challenging manifestations of emerging geopolitical competition in the region, and said the region was anxious in the absence of a clear signal from US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who welcomed Li to Canberra yesterday before discussions on trade and regional security, said the two leaders would discuss the “importance of upholding and maintaining stability in our region.”
Turnbull said that Australia and China would work together “to counter the rising tide of protectionism,” but he added that free trade could “only thrive in a peaceful and stable environment.”
“Both our countries know this well,” he said. “Australia and China have both benefitted immeasurably from the stability in our region that has been underpinned by the rules based international order.”
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