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Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on November 15, 2022

CCTV: For some time, food security has been a focus of the international community. We have noted that the International Forum on Hybrid Rice Assistance and Global Food Security was held in Beijing a few days ago. What message has the forum sent to the world as global food security is facing increasing challenges? What measures has China taken to protect global food security?

Mao Ning: On November 12, the International Forum on Hybrid Rice Assistance and Global Food Security was successfully held in Beijing. President Xi Jinping sent written remarks, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the forum. President Xi noted in his remarks that half a century ago, hybrid rice was first successfully developed and planted widely in China. Thanks to this technology, China has managed to feed nearly one-fifth of the world’s population with less than 9 percent of the world’s arable land. Over the years, hybrid rice has been introduced to the world, benefiting nearly 70 countries across five continents. This has been a remarkable contribution to their grain output increase and agricultural development, and offered a Chinese solution to food shortages in developing countries.

China attaches great importance to global food security. In the Global Development Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping, food security is one of the eight major areas of cooperation. China has put forth a cooperation initiative on global food security under the G20 framework, and put forward China’s suggestions in eight areas on establishing a cooperative partnership of bulk commodities and on safeguarding global food security. At the 25th China-ASEAN Summit that just concluded, the parties unanimously adopted the China-ASEAN Joint Statement on Food Security Cooperation, in which the parties reached important common understandings on strengthening cooperation on food availability, access, utilization and stability.

Food security is a fundamental and existential issue. China is ready to continue to work with the rest of the world, stay committed to a shared future of the human community, advance the Global Development Initiative, and strengthen cooperation on food security and poverty reduction, so as to make greater contributions to accelerating the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and building a world free from hunger and poverty.

CCTV: We have noted that cooperation between China and Pacific Island countries (PICs) in various areas has made positive progress. For example, China has provided a batch of police vehicles for Solomon Islands and a shipment of fertilizers for Fiji. The ground-breaking ceremony of the Samoa Police Academy, a China-assisted project, was held. Can you share more information?

Mao Ning: The Pacific Island countries (PICs) are now working to achieve post-COVID economic recovery and make their people’s lives better, which requires more attention and input from the international community. China has been taking concrete actions to help PICs with utmost sincerity. The projects you just mentioned, including police vehicles to Solomon Islands, fertilizers to Fiji and the police academy in Samoa, are all carried out in light of the countries’ urgent needs and aimed at improving the PICs’ capability of boosting economic development and defending their own safety. Apart from the projects, China also facilitated the skills training of the police from Solomon Islands in Fujian. And the first group of diplomats from PICs are now attending a training program in China. Such cooperation exemplifies China’s efforts in building a human community with a shared future in the South Pacific. China will continue to uphold the principles of mutual respect, equal treatment, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development, promote sustained development of our comprehensive strategic partnership, build an even closer community with a shared future for China and Pacific Island countries, and deliver benefits to the two peoples.

Yonhap News Agency: Could you share with us China’s expectation for the meeting between the Chinese and ROK Presidents today?

Mao Ning: As agreed by China and the ROK, President Xi Jinping and ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol, both in Bali to attend the G20 Summit, will have a bilateral meeting this afternoon local time. This will be the first official meeting between the two heads of state and will bear great significance. The two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on China-ROK relations and issues of shared interest.

China and the ROK are close neighbors and important cooperation partners. To advance the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations is in the shared interest of both sides. We hope this meeting will produce positive outcomes, and chart the course and provide the impetus for the future growth of China-ROK relations.

MBC: The US government said that China can hardly “control” North Korea. And if the DPRK does not stop its military provocations, the US will strengthen its military presence around the Korean Peninsula. It added, the actions the US takes “would not be directed against China” but North Korea. What is China’s stand on this?

Mao Ning: The crux and history of the issues of the Peninsula are very clear. It is China’s consistent belief that the right way forward is to resolve the legitimate concerns of all parties in a balanced way through meaningful dialogue. We will bear in mind the larger interest of upholding peace and stability on the Peninsula and continue to play a positive role in promoting the political settlement of the issues of the Peninsula.

Dragon TV: According to Pakistani media, the local court of Pakistan recently made sentences on several suspects that organized and participated in the Dasu terrorist attack on July 14 last year. Certain heads of the group were sentenced to death. What’s China’s comment?

Mao Ning: I have noted the reports. Pakistan has carried out the investigation of last year’s July 14 terrorist attack in Dasu with utmost seriousness and made every effort to get to the bottom of the case and bring the perpetrators to full justice. This is much appreciated by China. Now that the criminals have been held accountable, we know that justice has prevailed and our fellow compatriots who lost their lives in the attack can now rest in peace. China will remain firmly supportive of Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts and hope the safety of Chinese nationals, institutions and projects in Pakistan will be duly protected.

The CPC and the Chinese government follow a people-centered approach to governance. We have applied a holistic approach to national security with the people’s security as our ultimate goal. Protecting the security of overseas Chinese nationals, institutions and projects is of great importance to us, and we have made tremendous efforts in that regard. We will further increase input, improve risk alerts, enhance emergency response capabilities, and work with relevant countries to resolutely protect the security of overseas Chinese nationals, institutions and projects.

Tokyo Shimbun: Yesterday the Japanese government announced that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet with President Xi Jinping on November 17. What’s China’s expectation for the meeting? What will they mainly discuss?

Mao Ning: We will release the information once it becomes available.

Prasar Bharati: According to Pakistani media reports, it was agreed between China and Pakistan that the Chinese workers working for CPEC projects will be moving in bulletproof cars for the sake of their safety. What’s your comment?

Mao Ning: I am not aware of the specifics you mentioned. I can tell you that China and Pakistan always maintain close cooperation, and the two sides will make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan.

Bloomberg: A Hydro-Quebec employee who was working on battery material research has been charged with espionage by the Canadian police for allegedly obtaining trade secrets for China. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: I’m not aware of what you mentioned. The Canadian side needs to handle individual cases in accordance with the law and avoid politicizing them.

Prasar Bharati: According to Pakistani media reports, there is a huge protest going on in the port city of Gwadar for the last 20 days. The protesters threatened to block the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, if their demands are not met within a week. Is the Chinese government in communication with the Pakistani government in this regard as protests are threatening CPEC?

Mao Ning: These reports do not reflect the truth. The organizers have stated publicly that the protests are not directed at China or the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The Gwadar Port is a flagship project of CPEC with a clear focus on development and benefiting people’s livelihood from the very beginning. The Chinese side has adhered to the principles of mutual respect and consensus-building throughout the cooperation process. The cooperation has effectively boosted local socioeconomic development and improved people’s livelihood, ranging from projects like the Gwadar Free Zone, the desalination plant, the Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute, the Pak-China Friendship Hospital and the Faqeer primary school to the Chinese-donated solar power generation units. China stands ready to work together with Pakistan in the high-quality development of CPEC. We will build and operate CPEC projects well, including the Gwadar Port. This way, our cooperation will bring even more benefits to the people of both China and Pakistan.

Prasar Bharati: According to a report from Nepal, Chinese Vice Minister for Culture and Tourism visited Nepal with a delegation for a five-day Nepal visit over the weekend, despite the Nepali government asking the Chinese side to postpone the visit until after the November 20 elections in Nepal. The report said the Chinese side declined the request and proceeded with the visit. Can you share some information about the visit?

Mao Ning: This visit you mentioned was agreed upon beforehand by the competent authorities of both countries. With the concerted effort from both sides, this visit has achieved the intended results. What you mentioned is not true.

Follow-up: Actually, this was said by the media reports from Nepal. What kind of results and agreement as you mentioned just now were reached during the visit?

Mao Ning: The Chinese side has issued a detailed press release about the visit. I would refer you to that.

The ‘Asian Moment’ is hope and promise of a better world for all working people. “亞洲時刻”是為所有勞動人民創造一個更美好世界的希望和承諾 By Prof. Ken Hammond, Nov 14 2022

https://enapp.globaltimes.cn/article/1279560

The world today is far from being tranquil. Facing a choice of the times between solidarity and division and cooperation and confrontation, the international community expects Asia to play a leading role. ASEAN countries are successively hosting three important multilateral meetings including the ASEAN Summit and Leaders’ Meetings on East Asia Cooperation, the G20 Summit, and APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting. Focusing on the “Asian Moment,” the Global Times will invite several Chinese and foreign scholars to discuss how Asian countries can contribute “Asian wisdom” to the world amid unprecedented changes unseen in a century. This is the fifth of this series.

Profound changes are taking place in the world today. In the old Euro-American centers of global economic activity, there is a deepening crisis of decline and political dysfunction as working people find themselves facing rising challenges to their livelihoods and material security. Elites in the United States and its formerly prosperous allies are increasingly fearful of losing the power and privileges they have enjoyed for many years. The impending crisis of environmental stress and climate change pose challenges which cannot be met within the established parameters of the capitalist system still dominant in the North Atlantic world. The devastations of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed millions in these societies where profits come before people, have highlighted other problems of these faltering social and political systems. Meanwhile the American pursuit of NATO expansion has provoked a war which further intensifies market disruptions and food and energy supplies.

In contrast, China and other countries across much of Asia are facing brighter prospects for the future. Shared efforts to promote development around the region have allowed the lives of ordinary people to continue to improve, and while recessions threaten the old industrial and imperial centers of the West, economies are growing, not only in China but throughout Southeast and South Asia as well. This has led many observers to invoke the idea of an Asian Moment, a shift in the positive dynamics in world affairs from the former core of America and European countries to the rising tide of Asian society. How can we best understand the transformations taking place?

A fundamental restructuring of the global economic and geopolitical order is ongoing. The existing pattern of world affairs, in which the industrial economies of Western Europe and North America were at the core, was based on the monopoly over advanced technologies of production and the military power attendant upon that which they held from the early 19th century on. The Industrial Revolution, beginning in Britain at the turn of the 19th century and spreading to other parts of the Atlantic region over the following century, gave those countries the capacity to produce a wide range of commodities in much greater volume and at much lower unit costs than had been previously possible. This, in turn, created a powerful need for sources of raw materials and for markets to absorb the products of factories and workshops being generated in volumes far beyond the ability of local consumers to absorb.

Industrial technology also gave the Western powers the ability to project military force in new forms and over great distances, enabling them to impose upon much of the rest of the world a political and economic system of imperialist domination and exploitation which extracted wealth from the labor of hundreds of millions of workers and grossly enriched the elites of the metropolitan states. The domestic economies of societies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America were subordinated to the needs and interests of Western capital, and the global distribution of wealth was transformed into impoverishment of the many and great wealth for the master of colonial and neo-colonial rule.

This epoch in modern history began to change with the revolutions and struggles for national liberation which led to the creation of socialist countries and the independence of colonial subject peoples throughout the course of the 20th century. The monopoly on modern technologies of production was broken by the Soviet Union, which pursued its own path of industrialization, and by the emerging economies of China and other countries freed from the domination of Western imperialism. As advanced production capacity grew in the late 20th and early 21st centuries the balance of economic power shifted, with the old core of Europe and America relinquishing their central role as new areas of production emerged from China to Brazil, Southeast Asia, India, and other lands.

The old powers still seek to retain their dominant role in world affairs, and the aggressive campaigns waged by America against China and the Euro-American program of expansion and containment of Russia demonstrate. But these efforts are bound to fail, as the long-term dynamics of global reconfiguration continue to play out. We see in the world today not just an Asian Moment, but the beginning of a new era, in which the countries of Asia, with China at this point playing a leading role, return to the place of prominence which they held for so many centuries prior to the brief age of Western imperialist ascendancy.

The Asian Moment is one of hope and promise for a better world, not just for the peoples of China and Asia, but for ordinary working people around the planet.

The author is professor of East Asian and global history at New Mexico State University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

US goal is to destroy Russia first (then China) – security chief. Washington wants to use Ukraine to damage Russia, Nikolay Patrushev says

The US wants to weaken and destroy Russia, and is using Ukraine as a “battering ram” to achieve that goal, the secretary of Russia’s national Security Council has warned.

While Washington declares Russia “a source of instability”, it also fosters “anti-Russian alliances, builds up military strength, deploys NATO forces at our border,” Nikolay Patrushev said on Tuesday during a government meeting.

“The puppet Kiev regime, which took power through a coup that was supported by [the US and its closest allies], is being used as a battering ram against Russia,” Patrushev added, as quoted by TASS news agency. “The US goal is to weaken, disunite and ultimately destroy our nation.”

The official claimed Washington will stop at nothing to achieve its “selfish goals” aimed at global supremacy and is pushing the world “towards a global war” through policies that pit other nations against each other.

Patrushev made the remarks during a meeting on Russian domestic security, which he chaired in the city of Bryansk. He called for possible safety lapses at strategic sites to be fixed, and said Ukrainian saboteurs pose an increasing threat to Russia and its people.

“Attempts to infiltrate Russian territory by members of radical and extremist structures, who seek to conduct sabotage activities and terrorist attacks, have significantly increased,” he stated. Transport and energy sites are of particular interest for would-be plotters, he stressed.

Patrushev added that Russian law enforcement agencies have thwarted 28 terrorism-related crimes this year, including nine attempted acts of sabotage.

Hong Kong has world’s lowest tax rate max out at 17%, free medical, public transportation at US$.25 for 60 & over, there are more multimillionaires per square meter than any cities in the world. HK is the world’s freest city, lives it loves it.

China build & US destroy Video: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, a landmark of BRI railway 雅萬高鐵，“一帶一路” 鐵路的標誌性建築
https://rumble.com/v1uh54k-jakarta-bandung-high-speed-railway-a-landmark-of-bri-railway.html
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=833182294571764&id=100036400039778

Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping? Who started the trade war? US’s China Containment Policy By Percy Allan, Nov 15, 2022

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese is perpetuating the myth that China’s action in 2020 to restrict Australian exports was a bolt out of the blue that was uncalled for. President Xi will have a very different view.

Either he is unaware or feigns not to know that during the previous four years we blocked:

China’s exports of aluminium and steel products on grounds that the WTO rejected,
Chinese investments including those in non-strategic products like Lion dairy and drinks,
Chinese technology even though Huawei’s 5G system was recognised as the best available, and
China’s promotion of its interests in Australia like other nations do (e.g., Israel, USA, Britain, France, Germany, India, Japan).
Afterward, ASIO raided the homes of Chinese journalists to seize their computers and interrogate them in front of their families. Also, the Australian government pressured universities to close their Chinese-sponsored language centres notwithstanding they don’t engage in politics.

These obstructions to Chinese trade, investment, technology, and influence breached the letter and spirit of our 2015 Free Trade Agreement with China that the Abbot government at the time had hailed as an “economic partnership” since it extended beyond trade by embracing measures for closer economic integration.

When Malcolm Turnbull became PM, the mood changed (the appointment of China hawk, John Garnaut, as his senior and then principal international adviser possibly spawned that). Canberra decided that Australia should lead the world in decoupling from China, even though it was our main market and an important source of investment, tourism, and students. This stance proved a winner with the new Trump administration though Australia got no favours in return. Indeed, Trump’s trade deal with China forced it to divert its agricultural imports to America at the expense of other primary producers including Australia.

In April 2020, the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, after liaising with America, but not consulting China, announced that Australia would push for an independent international inquiry into the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Prime Minister Scott Morrison went further, suggesting that the World Health Organisation (WHO) needed tough new “weapons inspector” powers to undertake the investigation. For China that was the last straw since it presumed the virus was China’s fault. China then decided that Australia was no longer a reliable “economic partner”, but a “hostile supplier”. Thereafter, it put restrictions on our exports of lobster, beef, cotton, and timber, tariffs on our wine and barley, and blocked our coal and copper.

Albanese says, “China has changed, not Australia”. In truth, Australia decided to overturn its economic partnership with China almost immediately after formally signing up for it. When Australia changed its views after Turnbull became PM it should have been upfront and told China it wanted to scrap the deal. Instead, the agreement is still in place, though now a dead letter law.

America’s containment policy

Albanese should be careful to avoid entrapment by Biden’s quest to isolate China diplomatically, technologically, and economically. Unlike the USA, Australia is part of Asia, and its economy is complementary to China, so not in competition with it. China is the world’s biggest factory, and we are amongst its biggest suppliers of fuels and raw materials used for its manufacturing and construction. We run a huge trade surplus with China, with the value of our exports double that of our imports.

China’s market for our products is bigger than our next dozen national customers combined. Imports from China (e.g., electronic equipment, machinery, boilers, furniture, lighting signs, prefabricated buildings, apparel, motor vehicles, plastics, toys, games, and sports requisites) are cheaper than those available elsewhere helping us to contain our cost of living. Without them, our wage’s purchasing power would have been much lower.

By contrast, the USA views China as an economic ogre because it has a large trade deficit with it and is worried that China’s advances in technology could overtake Silicon valley’s edge. So, its policy of confronting and containing China is not just about maintaining its military hegemony in Asia, but about preventing China from becoming an economic superpower. China wants to escape the middle-income trap bedevilling most of Asia by moving up the economic value chain via its “China 2025” plan to reduce its dependence on foreign technology and promote Chinese hi-tech exports.

Shifting from labour and capital-intensive industries to highly innovative ones will boost worker productivity and wages. That would help offset China’s declining workforce and diminishing overseas markets beset by post-pandemic stagflation and increased onshoring of supply lines. America knows that if it can convince its allies to boycott China’s ITC (e.g., Huawei 5 G system) it can hamper China’s efforts to become a rich country.

Yet Australia’s prosperity hinges largely on China’s prosperity. That is a reality we must recognise. Dumping China is not an option since it will be the dominant economy of the 21st century. Unless of course, we have strong grounds to believe it is planning to invade south-east Asia and then us, in which case we should immediately stop exporting base metals that go into making its military hardware. But there is no evidence for that.

Albanese is kidding himself if he thinks that the breakdown in economic relations was purely China’s doing and that Australia did not provoke it. He needs to acquaint himself with the facts before going off half-cocked if he is serious about improving relations with China. His latest endorsement of the NATO communique accusing China of posing a global threat to the interests, security, and values of the now 32-country alliance has earned stern rebuke and thereby compromised any reset in relations with China.

To join America’s push to hobble China’s growth would shackle our own efforts at higher living standards and better public services. Albanese should be acutely aware of that because he has not only inherited a huge structural government deficit but added to it with his own ambitious social programs. Without China’s buying power his government won’t be able to undertake budget repair let alone pay for its expensive promises. Nor will it get Australia out of its stagnant wages rut since slower growth would mean higher unemployment and less labour bargaining power.

Percy Allan is a public policy economist and a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology, Sydney. Professor Allan is a former Secretary of the NSW Treasury (1985-1994) and a former Chair of the NSW Premier’s Council on the Cost & Quality of Government (1999-2007). He has chaired several public and private sector boards.

Dominative mentality of US, its allies must be countered with power of solidarity of East. By Veronika S. Saraswati, Nov 14 2022

https://enapp.globaltimes.cn/article/1279473

Economic certainty and security stability are the two main factors needed for successful development. These conditions should not only be met for domestic governance, but also global governance. Development and security, as the two main driving wheels of governance, are two wings of one body. The two factors are very prominent to maintain stability.

Instability, insecurity and economic uncertainty are not merely natural phenomena. This situation is a result of a disorientation of development, which puts the ambitions of dominance of hegemonic powers ahead of people’s life. The fall of Global North countries (the US and North Europe) into a great economic recession is inseparable from an individualistic mentality and monopolistic economy. It can be clearly seen on how the UK decided to withdraw from the European Union (EU) as economic recession began to bring economic bankruptcy in the EU’s regionalism.

In the West, there is no sense of solidarity and mutual aid. The UK does not want to be co-opted into huge economic debts by other EU member states. And it is precisely China, through the Belt and Road Initiative, that strongly supports many EU member states’ economic sectors so that the EU member states, such as Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain, can still survive in economic development. Even more EU countries, such as Germany and France, have sought to build a closer relationship with China recently. These countries in the EU have faced a worsening economic situation due to the pandemic and the effects of US sanctions on Russia. This worsening situation led to social unrest, economic uncertainty, and a gloomy future.

Over time, an increasing number of EU countries have fallen into economic difficulties. China has helped them significantly by offering large-scale purchases of their products. An increasing number of EU member countries have expressed a desire to withdraw from EU regionalism. This corroborates the evidence that there is no spirit of mutual aid and no common development in Western capitalistic economics, because there is only a mentality of eliminating each other or zero-sum games underlining “I win you lose.” This mentality indeed risks economic ruin which ultimately brings damage to the social sector, political uncertainty, and vulnerability.

Like social chaos and world economic uncertainty, the harmony of the state and its peaceful economic development, placing the people first, is not a natural phenomenon but must be a concerted effort in the context of international relations. China chooses the way of dialogue over conflict to solve problems instead of pursuing armed military operation, intimidation, and sanctions. Dialogue is a problem-solving method rooted in the Asian wisdom tradition; seeing partners as subjects for dialogue, not as objects to be made sub-dominations as is customary in the Western way. Involving awareness and empathy is a condition to realize solidarity. Armed military operation and any form of sanctions as way out will only lead to worse effects, even war.

China and its partner countries do not live without problems and conflicts; disputes between countries have been also occurring. Conflicts are an inevitable situation that can occur within cooperation. However, China pursues methods to overcome conflicts, choosing to resolve any problems and contradictions by means of symmetric dialogue as friends. Modern China conducts its politics and economy based on Chinese ancestors’ philosophical values underlining “people’s life” as basic goals of all development sectors.

China advocates diversity, inclusiveness, mutual trust, and cooperation. It is a huge contribution of China’s characteristics to jointly address global challenges. China has adopted and rejuvenated Asian values to construct “common development” and become a hope for world economic recovery in the midst of a great depression that hits Europe and North America. The culture of “mutual aid” is the antithesis of individualism. The culture of individualism born in the Western tradition brings many destructive results for human psychology and social development that ultimately undermine broad-scale economic development. The monopolistic system of capitalism is one of the negative results of an individualistic culture.

China’s economic revival is derived from a strong non-monopolistic mentality. China’s foreign policy of building harmonious relations first focuses on neighboring countries, then secondly developing countries, then finally developed countries. Building harmonious relations based on mutual aid with neighbors is an Asian cultural power, and this is a core of strength on combatting an international economic recession and the current global uncertainty. As Global North economies face recession, Asia can survive with a better economy.

China should take actively a more important role in multilateral organizations in leading the world overcoming the great depression. More stable Asian economy and political condition is a strong basis as well as a strategy in facing the divisive efforts executed by the Global North to break down Asian power. The Global North especially the US and its allies are always looking for excuses and justifications for political interventions in Asia, which is aimed at splitting Asian powers. This dominative and hegemonic mentality of the Global North deserves to be countered with the power of mutual aid and solidarity for more solidity of the East.

The author is a research fellow of the China Study Unit Convener Centre for Strategic and International Studies Indonesia. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

President Xi Jinping Meets with U.S. President Joe Biden in Bali 2022-11-14

On the afternoon of 14 November local time, President Xi Jinping had a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia. The two presidents had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on issues of strategic importance in China-U.S. relations and on major global and regional issues.

President Xi pointed out the current state of China-U.S. relations is not in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and is not what the international community expects. China and the United States need to have a sense of responsibility for history, for the world and for the people, explore the right way to get along with each other in the new era, put the relationship on the right course, and bring it back to the track of healthy and stable growth to the benefit of the two countries and the world as a whole.

President Xi expounded on the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and its key outcomes. He pointed out that the domestic and foreign policies of the CPC and the Chinese government are open and transparent, with clearly stated and transparent strategic intentions and great continuity and stability. We are advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, basing our efforts on the goal of meeting people’s aspirations for a better life, unswervingly pursuing reform and opening-up, and promoting the building of an open global economy. China remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, always decides its position and attitude based on the merits of issues, and advocates resolving disputes peacefully through dialogue and consultation. China is committed to deepening and expanding global partnerships, safeguarding the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, and building a community with a shared future for mankind. China will stay committed to peaceful development, open development and win-win development, participate in and contribute to global development, and pursue common development with countries across the world.

President Xi pointed out that the world is at a major inflection point in history. Countries need to both tackle unprecedented challenges and seize unprecedented opportunities. This is the larger context in which we should view and handle China-U.S. relations. China-U.S. relations should not be a zero-sum game where one side out-competes or thrives at the expense of the other. The successes of China and the United States are opportunities, not challenges, for each other. The world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together. The two sides should form a correct perception of each other’s domestic and foreign policies and strategic intentions. China-U.S. interactions should be defined by dialogue and win-win cooperation, not confrontation and zero-sum competition. President Xi said that he takes very seriously President Biden’s “five-noes” statement. China does not seek to change the existing international order or interfere in the internal affairs of the United States, and has no intention to challenge or displace the United States. The two sides should respect each other, coexist in peace, pursue win-win cooperation, and work together to ensure that China-U.S. relations move forward on the right course without losing direction or speed, still less having a collision. Observing the basic norms of international relations and the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués is vitally important for the two sides to manage differences and disagreements and prevent confrontation and conflict; indeed, it is the most important guardrail and safety net for China-U.S. relations.

President Xi gave a full account of the origin of the Taiwan question and China’s principled position. He stressed that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations. Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese and China’s internal affair. It is the common aspiration of the Chinese people and nation to realize national reunification and safeguard territorial integrity. Anyone that seeks to split Taiwan from China will be violating the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation; the Chinese people will absolutely not let that happen! We hope to see, and are all along committed to, peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, but cross-Strait peace and stability and “Taiwan independence” are as irreconcilable as water and fire. We hope that the U.S. side will match its words with action and abide by the one-China policy and the three joint communiqués. President Biden has said on many occasions that the United States does not support “Taiwan independence” and has no intention to use Taiwan as a tool to seek advantages in competition with China or to contain China. We hope that the U.S. side will act on this assurance to real effect.

President Xi noted that freedom, democracy and human rights are the common pursuit of humanity and also the unwavering pursuit of the CPC. Just as the United States has American-style democracy, China has Chinese-style democracy; both fit their respective national conditions. The whole-process people’s democracy practiced in China is based on the country’s reality, history and culture, and it reflects people’s will. We take great pride in it. No country has a perfect democratic system, and there is always a need for development and improvement. The specific differences between the two sides can be worked out through discussion, but only on the precondition of equality. The so-called “democracy versus authoritarianism” narrative is not the defining feature of today’s world, still less does it represent the trend of the times.

President Xi pointed out that the two countries take different paths; while the United States practices capitalism, China practices socialism. Such difference is nothing new and will continue to exist. Leadership of the CPC and China’s socialist system have the support of 1.4 billion people. They are the fundamental guarantee for China’s development and stability. For China and the United States to get along, it is vital to recognize and respect such difference. Neither side should try to remold the other in one’s own image, or seek to change or even subvert the other’s system. Instead of talking in one way and acting in another, the United States needs to honor its commitments with concrete action.

President Xi underscored that China and the United States are two major countries with different histories, cultures, social systems and development paths. There have been and will continue to be differences between the two countries. Such differences should not become an obstacle to growing China-U.S. relations. There is always competition in the world, but competition should be about learning from each other to become one’s better self and make progress together, not about taking others down in a zero-sum game. The Chinese nation has the proud tradition of standing up for itself. Suppression and containment will only strengthen the will and boost the morale of the Chinese people. Starting a trade war or a technology war, building walls and barriers, and pushing for decoupling and severing supply chains run counter to the principles of market economy and undermine international trade rules. Such attempts serve no one’s interests. We oppose politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade ties as well as exchanges in science and technology. Under the current circumstances, China and the United States share more, not less, common interests. It is in our mutual and fundamental interest to prevent conflict and confrontation and achieve peaceful coexistence. The two economies are deeply integrated, and both face new tasks in development. It is in our mutual interest to benefit from each other’s development. It is also in our mutual interest to promote post-COVID global recovery, tackle climate change and resolve regional issues through China-U.S. coordination and cooperation. The two sides need to respect each other, pursue mutual benefit, focus on the larger picture, and nurture a sound atmosphere and stable relations for cooperation.

President Biden noted that he has known President Xi for many years and maintained regular communication, but nothing could substitute for the kind of face-to-face meeting today. President Biden congratulated President Xi on his re-election as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. As two major countries, the United States and China have a responsibility to keep a constructive relationship. The U.S. side is committed to keeping the channels of communication open between the two presidents and at all levels of government, so as to allow candid conversations on issues where the two sides disagree, and to strengthen necessary cooperation and play a key role in addressing climate change, food security and other important global challenges. This is vitally important to the two countries and peoples, and also very important to the whole world. President Biden reaffirmed that a stable and prosperous China is good for the United States and the world. The United States respects China’s system, and does not seek to change it. The United States does not seek a new Cold War, does not seek to revitalize alliances against China, does not support “Taiwan independence”, does not support “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”, and has no intention to have a conflict with China. The U.S. side has no intention to seek “de-coupling” from China, to halt China’s economic development, or to contain China.

President Biden said that how the U.S-China relationship develops is of crucial importance to the future of the world. The United States and China have a shared responsibility to show the world that they can manage their differences, and avoid and prevent misunderstandings and misperceptions or fierce competition from veering into confrontation or conflict. The U.S. side shares the view that it is necessary to work out the principles guiding U.S.-China relations. The two teams may continue discussions on the basis of the common understandings already in place, and strive for early agreement. The U.S. government is committed to the one-China policy. It does not seek to use the Taiwan question as a tool to contain China, and hopes to see peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The two presidents agreed that their respective diplomatic teams should maintain strategic communication and conduct regular consultations; their financial teams will continue dialogue and coordination on macroeconomic policies, economic ties and trade; and the two countries will jointly work for the success of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The two sides reached common understandings on conducting dialogue and cooperation in public health, agriculture and food security. They agreed to make good use of the China-U.S. joint working group to promote the resolution of more issues. They also agreed that people-to-people exchange is very important, and agreed to encourage the expansion of such exchange in all sectors.

The two presidents also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis and other issues. President Xi pointed out that China is highly concerned about the current situation in Ukraine. He noted the four points about what must be done he had proposed soon after the outbreak of the crisis and the four things the international community must do together he had suggested recently. Facing a global, composite crisis like the one in Ukraine, it is important to give serious thought to the following: first, conflicts and wars produce no winner; second, there is no simple solution to a complex issue; and third, confrontation between major countries must be avoided. China has all along stood on the side of peace and will continue to encourage peace talks. We support and look forward to a resumption of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, we hope that the United States, NATO and the EU will conduct comprehensive dialogues with Russia.

Both presidents viewed the meeting as in-depth, candid and constructive. They instructed their teams to promptly follow up and implement the important common understandings reached between them, and take concrete actions to put China-U.S. relations back on the track of steady development. The two presidents agreed to maintain regular contact.

Ding Xuexiang, Wang Yi and He Lifeng, among others, were present at the meeting.

When the Native Indians greeted Americans’ forefathers with food and kindness, the latter reciprocated with guns and bullets. When a friend in need becomes a friend in greed – How US stabs its European allies in the back

Times have changed but the tradition is passed on. The US has time and again proven to be a wily and untrustworthy “friend” for other nations.

When French President Macron complained about the astronomical price that the EU had to pay to the US energy industry, he might recall that it was his American and British friends that hijacked the French nuclear-powered submarines contract with Australia only one year ago, which was denounced as “a stab in the back” by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

France is not the only victim among America’s European partners. When it comes to America’s tactics to contain its foes, and allies alike, the most preferred strategy is to stoke geopolitical conflict. History has demonstrated how perfectly this method works, from George Kennan’s “long telegram” to the ongoing Ukraine crisis. For the US, the situation in Ukraine is actually a window of opportunity. The hot conflict has not only revitalized the old transatlantic military organization NATO, but also narrowed cooperation and business choices for Europe.

By encouraging Ukraine to “fight Russia till the last Ukrainian”, the US generated huge orders for its military industrial complex. According to a report from the Hill in March, since the start of the new year, Lockheed Martin’s stock had soared nearly 25 percent, while Raytheon, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman each saw their stock prices rise by around 12 percent. As the conflict dragged on, the US also drastically increased its military presence in Europe. On June 29, the US Department of Defense confirmed that 20,000 additional forces had been deployed to Europe since the beginning of the conflict, ending a 30-year record of declining US force deployment in Europe. At the strategic level, the US has successfully resuscitated the “brain dead” NATO, and squashed the European dream of defense independence. Has the US really fulfilled its promise that it “never left its allies alone”? Let’s not forget what happened to America’s Afghan allies last year.

European countries now find themselves trapped in not just one predicament. They should be well reminded that America would never hesitate to secure its national interests at the cost of others, including its allies. This is usually well-hidden and camouflaged with catchphrases like “shared values” or “like-minded democracies”, but the Trump administration boldly unveiled America’s true intention by imposing tariffs on European steel and aluminum.

Now with deteriorating diplomatic relations with Russia, Europe has grown more dependent on American energy to muddle through the coming winter. The US has viewed Germany as a major “troublemaker” since Chancellor Angela Merkel started the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia. For years the US has been attempting to sabotage this project, coercing the Germans to quit. The outbreak of the Ukraine conflict finally made Germany and most of other European countries give up “authoritarian support” and turn to “democratic energy”.

According to the International Energy Agency, the US supply of gas surpassed Russia in June. A US cargo sold in Europe could bring in a profit of $200 million. Laurent Segalen, an energy investment banker who hosts the Redefining Energy podcast, said that US companies can fill and send a ship across the Atlantic for some $60 million, then return with $275 million.

“That is not exactly the meaning of friendship,” complained Macron, pointing out that European countries are paying four times more than the price the US sells domestically. Perhaps it is not about friendship in the first place. The US is asking European countries to pay for the extra “democratic values” attached to American gas.

While Europeans are struggling to fill up their gas tanks before winter, the Federal Reserve paced up its strong dollar policy amid global recession, raising interest rates by 75 basis points for the sixth time this year, its highest level since 2000. Thanks to the strong dollar, the Eurozone is really going to the wall. According to a Capital article, the EUR/USD exchange rate fell below the 99-cent mark, hitting a 20-year low. Dismissing the risks of a strong U.S. dollar, the American President blamed anemic growth and policy missteps in other parts of the world, including Europe, for dragging down the global economy. “Our economy is strong as hell”, announced President Biden.

Ultimately, it’s a European call to decide Europe’s own future. Rather than relying on a “fatal friend”, the EU should take serious steps for strategic autonomy and find a friend indeed rather than a friend in greed.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News Agency, Global Times, CGTN, China Daily etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.

World BEYOND War has launched a new online tool that allows the user to view a globe pock-marked with 867 U.S. military bases in countries other than the United States

https://worldbeyondwar.org/see-867-military-bases-on-new-online-tool/

Zoom in for a satellite view of and detailed information on each base. The tool also allows filtering the map or list of bases by country, government type, opening date, number of personnel, or acres of land occupied.

This visual database was researched and developed by World BEYOND War to help journalists, activists, researchers, and individual readers understand the immense problem of excessive preparation for war, which inevitably leads to international bullying, meddling, threats, escalation, and mass atrocity. By illustrating the extent of the U.S. empire of military outposts, World BEYOND War hopes to call attention to the wider problem of war preparations.

The United States of America, unlike any other nation, maintains this massive network of foreign military installations around the world. How was this created and how is it continued? Some of these physical installations are on land occupied as spoils of war. Most are maintained through collaborations with governments, many of them brutal and oppressive governments benefiting from the bases’ presence. In many cases, human beings were displaced to make room for these military installations, often depriving people of farmland, adding huge amounts of pollution to local water systems and the air, and existing as an unwelcome presence.

U.S. bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool for militant groups opposed to the U.S. presence and the governments its presence bolsters. In other cases, foreign bases have made it easier for the United States to launch and execute disastrous wars, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. Across the political spectrum and even within the U.S. military there is growing recognition that many overseas bases should have been closed decades ago, but bureaucratic inertia and misguided political interests have kept them open. Estimates of the yearly cost to the U.S. of its foreign military bases range from $100 – 250 billion.