Xi Jinping of China addresses the UN general assembly. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses UN
Xi Jinping.
Xi says the world has to draw lessons from history to avoid repeating past calamity. The pace of evolution is now “accelerating”, with the move to a “multi-polar world” an “irresistible trend”, he says.
Xi says he’s against zero-sum thinking and believes in a “win-win” approach to international relations. Major nations should follow principles of mutual respect, with big countries treating smaller countries as equals. “The law of the jungle is not the way for countries to conduct international relations.”
Interesting stuff, but so far rather abstract from Xi.
Xi says China is committed to peaceful development, and won’t pursue “hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence”. He says China wants to help other countries develop, and will uphold the “international order and system underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN charter”.
He says China will establish a 10-year $1bn peace fund to support the UN’s work. China will also join the new UN peacekeeping readiness system, he says, with “a permanent peacekeeping squad and standby force of 8,000 troops”. Plus $100m of assistance to the African Union to support the continent’s crisis-response force.
Xi says China is committed to peaceful development, and won’t pursue “hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence”. He says China wants to help other countries develop, and will uphold the “international order and system underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN charter”.
He says China will establish a 10-year $1bn peace fund to support the UN’s work. China will also join the new UN peacekeeping readiness system, he says, with “a permanent peacekeeping squad and standby force of 8,000 troops”. Plus $100m of assistance to the African Union to support the continent’s crisis-response force.
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The consensus was that
Xi Jinping was a little dull. Our man in China,
Tom Phillips, has sent this analysis.
Xi Jinping looked his typical inscrutable self as he made his general assembly debut. His main pitch was one we’ve heard repeatedly since he became Communist party boss in 2012, vowing to promote “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” – namely that Beijing deserves a greater say in international affairs and an equal footing with the US.
“The future of the world must be shaped by all countries,” Xi said, describing the emergence of a multi-polar world (not dominated by the US) as an “irreversible trend”.
Obama’s speech contained a few clear digs at Xi – about the jailing of political opponents and religious believers and the weaknesses strongmen rulers who would eventually crumble.
Xi’s response to Obama was: mind your own business. The ways in which different countries sought to improve their citizens’ lives should be respected. “The world is simply more colourful as a result of its cultural diversity.”
Part of Xi’s argument for Beijing having a greater say on the world stage was historical. Beijing had suffered 35m casualties during the second world war, he said, repeating comments he made during the massive military parade in Beijing on 3 September. “History is a mirror only by drawing lessons from history can we avoid past calamities.”
For those who wondered if that applied to the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and the Great Famine of the 1950s – which the Communist party has all but erased from the history books - Xi had a pithy slapdown. “The past cannot be changed - but the future can be shaped.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/li...l-assembly-putin-obama-hollande-world-leaders
