Highlights: General Li Shangfu said that a "Cold War mentality" was, in his opinion, reviving in the Asia-Pacific region. Li reiterated Beijing's stance on Taiwan, saying the island was "the core of China's core interests" The subject of Taiwan and the China Seas should return to the menu of discussions between the two superpowers, says RFI's Stéphane Lagarde. The handshake exchanged at the opening of the Shangri-La dialogue betweenLi Shangfu and Lloyd Austin is already forgotten.

It was this Sunday, June 4, the first public intervention before an international audience of the Chinese Minister of Defense. A speech expected as part of the Shangri-La meetings...

Shangri-La dialogue: Chinese defense minister denounces 'cold war mentality'

It was this Sunday, June 4, the first public intervention before an international audience of the Chinese Minister of Defense. A speech expected as part of the Shangri-La meetings in Singapore. General Li Shangfu said that a "Cold War mentality" was, in his opinion, reviving in the Asia-Pacific region, this after refusing to meet officially with the US defense secretary.

Li Shangfu, during the Shangri-La dialogue, June 4, 2023. AFP - ROSLAN RAHMAN

Text by: RFI Follow

Advertising

With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

The handshake exchanged at the opening of the Shangri-La dialogue between Li Shangfu and Lloyd Austin, which has been much talked about by networks in China, is already forgotten. This Sunday, June 4, after a military salute from the public, the Chinese Minister of Defense brought out the main themes of Beijing's rhetoric against the United States. "Some countries" would like to impose their rules on others, General Li said. "They practice double standards and only serve their interests," while interfering in the "internal affairs of other countries" and adopting a "Cold War mentality," he denounced at the Asia-Pacific defense and security conference.

These thinly veiled criticisms are coupled with a denunciation of an international order that serves, according to Beijing, again the interests of a handful of countries. A refrain echoed this week by Chinese academics such as Lei Xiaolu, associate professor at the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS) at Wuhan University and deputy director of the SCSPI, according to which the United States "does not respect international law", especially with regard to the right of navigation.

We see some countries outside the region exercising their hegemony of navigation in the name of freedom of navigation (...) Everyday, I see a lot of information about foreign ships and fighter jets arriving in areas close to our territory. They are not here for an innocent passage," Li said, as a U.S. destroyer and a Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait on Saturday were accused of "provocation" by China. The American Indo-Pacific Command, for its part, spoke of dangerous maneuvers on the part of the Chinese destroyer that cut off their passage.

One-China principle

Li reiterated Beijing's stance on Taiwan, saying the island was "the core of China's core interests," and remained an internal problem for China, off limits for foreign governments. "Taiwan is China's Taiwan, and how to resolve the Taiwan issue is a matter for the Chinese to decide," the Chinese general said. Beijing's one-China principle – that there is only one China and that Taiwan belongs to it – had become a "universally accepted basic norm governing international relations."

The subject of Taiwan and the China Seas should therefore return to the menu of discussions between the two superpowers, on the occasion of the visit of Daniel Kritenbrink, the main US diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific, to China and New Zealand, from this Sunday.

Shangri-La dialogue: Chinese defense minister denounces 'cold war mentality'

Shangri-La dialogue: Chinese defense minister denounces 'cold war mentality'

One-China principle

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest