Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that the Asia-Pacific was “once again standing at a crossroads of history”, as he expressed concern over renewed attempts to “impose a Cold War mentality” on the region.
“The concept of Asia-Pacific should not be diluted and Asia-Pacific cooperation should not be interfered with,” Wang remarked during a video address at a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), a grouping which seeks to deepen economic activity in the region.
The Chinese state counsellor recalled with appreciation that the Asia-Pacific region had “generally maintained peace and stability” since the end of World War II through “flourishing” economic cooperation among the nations.
“Security cannot be based on the insecurity of other countries. We should persist in settling disputes peacefully through dialogue and consultation, and oppose all words and deeds that promote tension and provoke confrontation in the region,” Wang stated.
Wang went on to reiterate his criticism of attempts to incite “confrontation” in the region by the creation of “military blocs” under the banner of Washington's “Indo-Pacific Strategy”, a policy which seeks to bolster the American military and economic presence in the region in order to counter Beijing’s rising influence.
The strategy document says that Beijing is trying to “reorder the region to its advantage by leveraging military modernisation, influence operations, and predatory economics to coerce other nations”.
Wang has previously accused the US of trying to create a NATO-like alliance in the Asia-Pacific region through its Indo-Pacific Strategy.
The senior Chinese diplomat has also been scathingly critical of Washington-led groupings such as the Quad and the trilateral AUKUS pact, the latter also comprising Australia and the United Kingdom.
The Quad Summit in Tokyo is only the second time that the leaders of the four nations have met in person, with the first in-person meeting having taken place at the White House last September.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of an increasingly tense global security situation in view of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. While Australia, the US and Japan have repeatedly claimed that the Ukraine situation has implications for the security order in the Asia-Pacific region, New Delhi has so far sought to keep the Quad's focus on the Asia-Pacific.
"I think what we need to keep in mind is that the Quad is a group of countries that shares core values of democracy, pluralism, and market economy. And the Quad’s cooperation, is shaped principally by the goals of promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," India's foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said at a press briefing on 22 May ahead of PM Modi's departure for Japan.
He was responding to a question if New Delhi would be able to withstand pressure by other Quad countries to make the Ukraine conflict a part of the Quad agenda.
US Wants to “Erase the Name of Asia-Pacific”, Says Wang
In another scathing observation directed at Washington’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, Wang remarked on Sunday that the policy was “bound to fail”.
“The Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States is arousing more and more vigilance and concern in the international community, especially in the Asia-Pacific region,” Wang remarked during a joint presser with Pakistan’s visiting Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The Chinese diplomat accused Washington of trying to altogether “erase" the term Asia-Pacific from the geographical lexicon by referring to the region as “Indo-Pacific”.
“The countries in Asia-Pacific are generally reluctant to take sides and the mainstream voice is to hope that all countries live in harmony and achieve win-win cooperation,” Wang stated.
“The trend of the times in the Asia-Pacific region is to promote regional integration and build an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future,” the Chinese FM added.