ISLAMABAD- As the United Nations marks 75 years of its founding, China onThursday slammed “blame game” by some countries.
In what it termed its “position paper” on the UN’s 75th anniversary, Chinasaid: “The COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the once-in-a-centurytransformations unfolding in our world. We are entering a period ofturbulence and change, and witnessing the rise of protectionism,unilateralism and bullying practices.”
“Certain countries and political forces keep playing the blame game,clamoring for ‘decoupling’, and pulling out of international organizationsand agreements,” said the Chinese policy statement, referring to the USwhich has pulled out of World Health Organization (WHO) and also called for“decoupling of its economy” from China.
China and the US bilateral trade climbed to $560 billion last year whilethe bilateral relations have reached bottom low after US President DonaldTrump’s attempts to balance the trade.
The two sides locked horns over Hong Kong and the rights of ethnic Uighurswhile Washington targeted Chinese companies with sanctions.
“What they are doing is sabotaging international cooperation, stokingconfrontation between ideologies and social systems, and putting the worldin serious jeopardy,” China said without naming the US.
Beijing has also faced backlash after COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhanin China last December. Trump has led a campaign along with Australia andother allies slamming China and seeking probe into the origin of the deadlyinfection.
China said “such actions of sabotage and confrontation” notwithstanding,“peace and development remain the theme of our times”.
“The rise of emerging markets and developing countries remains unchanged,the trend toward a multi-polar world remains unchanged, and continuouseconomic globalization despite twists and turns remains unchanged,” itadded.
Calls for new, better blueprint
Calling for a “new and better blueprint” for the sake of succeedinggenerations, China said: “All countries need to look beyond the pandemicand find answers to major questions such as what the world will look likeand what kind of UN the world needs.”
China said all countries should jointly “uphold the outcome of worldanti-fascist war and oppose any attempt to turn back the clock of history”.
“We must reject unilateralism, hegemonism and power politics,” said China,calling for multilateralism and safeguarding the purposes and principles ofthe UN Charter.
“All countries are equal, irrespective of their size, strength or wealth.We need to respect other countries’ independent choice of social system anddevelopment path, oppose interference in internal affairs, and promote anew type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness,justice and win-win cooperation,” it added.
Support to Debt Service Suspension Initiative
China urged for North-South cooperation “as the main channel andSouth-South cooperation as a supplement”.
“We should strengthen international cooperation on poverty reduction andprioritize this endeavor in implementing the 2030 Agenda so as to eradicateextreme poverty as early as possible,” it said, calling for World TradeOrganization-centered and rules-based multilateral trading regime.
In view of the weaknesses and deficiencies exposed by COVID-19, Chinamaintained there was a need to improve the governance system for publichealth security.
“We need to respond more quickly to public health emergencies and establishglobal and regional reserve centers of anti-epidemic supplies. We need toincrease policy dialogue and exchange,” it added.
China, the second largest economy, also supported the Debt ServiceSuspension Initiative for the poorest countries.
“We call for debt suspension over a longer time-frame. We need to bolstersupport for the hardest-hit countries under the greatest debt strain, andencourage international financial institutions and private creditors totake concrete actions to help this effort,” Beijing said. Anadolu Agency