Chinese minister draws Ukraine parallel to Indo-Pacific, rejects 'Bloc politics'
Mar 21, 2022
Beijing [China], March 21 : China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng has drawn a comparison between the ongoing Ukraine crisis and geopolitical theatre of the Indo-Pacific which it calls as Asia-Pacific region.
At the Fourth International Forum on Security and Strategy, Yucheng said the Ukraine crisis provides a mirror for us to observe the situation in the Asia-Pacific.
"We cannot but ask, how can we prevent a crisis like this from happening in the Asia-Pacific? The Asia-Pacific is an anchor for world peace and stability, an engine for global growth and a new pace-setter in international cooperation. Such a promising situation has not come easily and should be cherished by all sides," he said.
Underlining that Asia-Pacific now faces two opposite choices, Yucheng asked, "Should we build an open and inclusive family for win-win cooperation or go for small blocs based on the Cold War mentality and group confrontation?"
Since the crisis in Ukraine started, China has worked actively to promote dialogue for peace, voicing its support for peace and doing its best for talks, Le said.
"The European continent is a key region for world peace. It was marred by two World Wars and was not tranquil after the Cold War. Now flames of war are reignited. This is indeed deeply distressing and more importantly, should prompt us to profoundly reflect," he said and added the root cause lies in the Cold War mentality and power politics.
Le said one should not seek its own absolute security. "Bloc politics and group confrontation should be rejected," Le said, adding that military bloc is a Cold War vestige.
The Chinese minister also said globalization should not be "weaponized". "History has shown time and again that instead of solving problems, imposing sanctions is like putting out fire with firewood and will only make things worse. The abuse of sanctions will bring catastrophic consequences for the entire world."
"Small countries should not be used as pawns," Le noted, adding that some big countries do not want to get dragged into conflicts and bring harm to themselves, so they make empty promises to small countries, turn them into their cat's paw and even use them to fight proxy wars.
