The state councilor and foreign minister of China Wang Yi exhibited his diplomatic brilliance at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and smartly rebuked Trump’s prior rhetoric against China in addition to touching several other global issues ranging from development to protectionism and unilateralism, peace and justice, and climate change.
While reiterating that China will not ever be cowered by threats and or subdued by pressure when facing headwinds of protectionism, the top Chinese diplomat flabbergasted the attending countries and the global community by declaring to sign up with the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which regulates the global transfers of small arms, missile launchers, and warship.
Wang’s announcement for China’s accession to ATT contradicted Trump’s ricochet that his country would never ratify the pact. In April, the United States had officially withdrawn from ATT – a global conventional arms market of about $70 billion.
Earlier in August, the US president had also retracted from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and had expressed his intent to deploy such weapons in Asia to counter any possible threat from China and Russian. Wang warned “China is opposed to the deployment of land-based intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific.”
As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and fifth-largest arm exporter and one of the five-largest arms importers in the world, China pledge to sign the ATT would help UN to curb irresponsible and illicit global arms trafficking.
It would also give impetus to UN drive of peace and security, one of the global issues for which UNGA was originally established for and now serves as one of the major organs of the UN.
Trump hasn’t yet understood that making America great again does not necessarily mean that he must force the economies of other countries to spoil. Trump can still transpire his MAGA rhyme into reality by embracing the conformist diplomatic and political channels
Insightfully reacting to Trump’s belligerence over China-US trade frictions that have inflicted losses largely to the US, Wang underscored that through Chinese unique economic system – “850 million Chinese have been shaken off poverty and hundreds of millions have joined the middle-income group.”
On Tuesday, the US President Donald Trump niffed the aromatic world stage by rekindling his attacks on China’ economic model accusing it was “dependent on massive market barriers, heavy state subsidies, currency manipulation, product dumping, forced technology transfers and the theft of IP, and trade secrets on a grand scale.”
Wang’s remarks were backed by some palpable evidence. China has made remarkable achievements in social development, particularly poverty alleviation. As the numbers amount to about three-quarters of the global poverty, China has contributed significantly in meeting United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be realized by 2030. In just five years from 2012 to 2017, 70 million people were rooted out of poverty.
As Chinese poverty alleviation statistics are validated by many international financial organization, Trump should had admired China’s efforts for lifting millions of people out of poverty but since the US president is suffering from Sinophobia, he exploited the global podium for decrying Chinese economic system.
Trump’s rancor towards China is not new. Several times in the past, he has expressed his antipathy for Beijing. While economic and political gurus believe that he mainly addressed his domestic audience in the speech rather the global issues, the US president also used the deliberation dais to bully countries with which he is pursuing a trade deal.
The US president further championed that Beijing wants to make a deal badly because they are losing their jobs, their supply chains are going to “hell” and companies are moving out of China.
Indeed, he lashed hard at China in an attempt to build pressure on China before next round of talks but he was intimidating to other countries as well to expedite a trade covenant with him or he would hit them hard with his tormenting speechifying.
China, at least, did not seem impressed at all from Trump’s onslaught. Beijing’s decision to waive off tariffs on some of the US goods and increase purchases from Washington was a good will gesture to pave the way of reconciliation in the worsening trade war between the two largest economies of the world.
By reaffirming Chinese commitment to resolve all trade disputes with Washington “in a calm, rational, and cooperative manner” – Wang, in fact, neatly watered-down Trump’s harsh tone and brushed away his bombasts at China by his elegant diplomatic skills. His comments showed that China is still pliant to hearing the US gripes that is why it is willing to buy more US products.
Inopportunely, Trump painted Chinese tensions-moderating move as its faintness. Since long, Beijing has been trying to make US realize that the trade war would not errand either of the two countries or the global economy. It is Trump himself who is inconsistent in his approach as he has a legacy of first pleading trade deals and once China is agreed, he disrupts the whole resolution process by his hardnosed tendency.
It is not just China which is the “punching bag” of Trump’s pomposities. In order to vindicate his “America first” mantra, he has not spared even the US closest allies such as Japan and the US partners in Europe.
Trump hasn’t yet understood that making America great again does not necessarily mean that he must force the economies of other countries to spoil. Trump can still transpire his MAGA rhyme into reality by embracing the conformist diplomatic and political channels.
Wang’s nimble reaction had some diplomatic tutorial for the US president who is frantically looking to dominate the world through his coercive economic and military policies. By calling for revival of Iran nuclear deal, urging the Gulf countries to carry out dialogue and consultation, peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute, and pressing to bolster the political settlement of Korean peninsula – Wang truly represented China and the global community, the noble cause that was partially spoiled by Trump’s pessimistic linguistic.
The writer is contributor to China Global Television Network (CGTN)