Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday warned against letting tensions in the Asia-Pacific region cause a relapse into a “cold war” mentality.
His remarks on the sidelines of the annual summit of the APEC forum came weeks after Australia, the UK and the US announced a new security alliance in the region that would see Australia build nuclear submarines. China has harshly criticized the deal.
In a separate illustration of strains within APEC, one Southeast Asian delegate said that the group had so far failed to reach agreement on a US bid to host the 2023 summit due to unmet demands from Russia.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Xi spoke in a pre-recorded video to a CEO Summit at APEC, which is being hosted by New Zealand in a virtual format. Xi is scheduled to participate in an online meeting with other Pacific Rim leaders, including US President Joe Biden, tomorrow.
In his speech, Xi said attempts to draw boundaries in the region along ideological or geopolitical lines would fail. His reference to the Cold War echoes Beijing’s oft-stated position that the US should abandon that way of thinking in dealing with China.
“The Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not relapse into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era,” Xi said.
Xi also said the region should make sure to keep supply lines functioning and to continue liberalizing trade and investment.
“China will remain firm in advancing reform and opening up so as to add impetus to economic development,” he said.
Later in the day, top Chinese Communist Party leaders passed a resolution on the party’s past, which is expected to cement Xi’s legacy in Chinese history books.
About 400 members of the powerful Central Committee passed China’s resolution on “Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centennial Struggle,” the third ever such resolution in its 100-year history.
The lengthy report, which came on the final day of a plenary that started on Monday, called for upholding “the correct view of party history,” official news agency Xinhua said, adding that the party has “written the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years.”
“The Party Central Committee called on the entire party, the entire army and people of all ethnic groups to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, to fully implement Xi Jinping’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” the document read.
This year’s plenum paves the way for the 20th National Party Congress next year, at which Xi is widely expected to be handed a third term in office, securing his position as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong (毛澤東).
Additional reporting by AFP
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS