Author: Ming Shuyuan official account: Ming shuzatan wechat id:laomingdashu
On the evening of June 10, 2022, the 19th “Shangri La dialogue” opened in Singapore. In the context of the game between China and the United States and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, this dialogue has attracted wide attention from all parties.
In 2020 and 2021, the “Shangri La dialogue” was canceled twice due to the epidemic. This year, the dialogue was held offline again after three years.
What is “Shangri La dialogue”?
The Shangri La dialogue (SLD) refers to the “Asian Security Summit” co organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London and the Ministry of defence of Singapore. The dialogue was held in the Shangri La Hotel in Singapore in early June every year since 2002, hence its name.
The Shangri La dialogue is a new multilateral security cooperation dialogue mechanism emerging in the Asia Pacific region after September 11, 2001. It is also one of the largest and most standardized multilateral meetings in the Asia Pacific security dialogue mechanism.
This year’s “Shangri La dialogue” coincides with the United States’ vigorous implementation of the so-called “Indo Pacific strategy”. The United States is vigorously establishing Anti China political and military alliances around China. Among them, Japan and Australia are particularly happy to become the “pawns” of the United States’ Anti China actions in the Asia Pacific region.
It is foreseeable that at this summit, the United States and Japan will talk about the “China threat” and criticize, attack and slander China.
For China, participating in this dialogue is somewhat like “going to Hongmen banquet”.
So, what will China do to participate in the conference?
Someone said, “we just went to quarrel.”
That’s right and wrong.
According to the “Shangri La dialogue” in the past, the confrontation between China and the United States and their “lackeys” at the meeting is inevitable.
However, this dialogue is actually an important stage for China to continuously and positively explain China’s development strategy and development concept to the regional and international community, win more international understanding for China’s rise, and build China’s soft power.
China’s participation in the conference will inevitably lead to “quarrels”, but the objects of “quarrels” can only be the United States and a few of its allies. China does not want to “quarrel” with representatives of all countries.
In addition to “quarreling” with the United States and a few of its allies, China has more to do. That is to open the door to the international community other than the United States and its allies, take the main road, explain in vernacular, strive for understanding, make friends and make good friends.
Facing the countries in the Asia Pacific region and the international community as a whole, China’s message is that “China’s development is an opportunity, not a threat”.
Since China’s reform and opening up, its economy has developed rapidly and its comprehensive national strength has been rapidly improved. The international community does have many doubts, even doubts, about what path China should take and how to get along with other countries.
As for China, we should take every opportunity to make it clear to you what China is going to do, what China is going to do, and what kind of relations China is going to develop with other countries.
These words should be said year after year, month after month and day after day. Because we don’t say them, the United States will lie, deliberately distort our intentions and discredit us.
What will China do?
Is to do our own things in a down-to-earth manner so that the 1.4 billion Chinese people can live a better life.
How is China going to do this?
Internally, deepen reform; Opening wider to the outside world.
What kind of relations will China develop with other countries?
Mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.
China does not want to seek hegemony, nor does it want to compete with the United States for hegemony.
What China wants is to work with other countries to make the cake of mutual benefit and win-win results bigger, so that the lives of the Chinese people can be better, and the lives of the people of other countries can be better because of China.
China is already the second largest economy in the world and one of the most important scientific, technological, military and diplomatic forces in the Asia Pacific region. It is normal for other countries to have doubts and doubts about our strategy and philosophy. As long as China is not maliciously distorted, slandered or attacked, we will treat each other as equals, calmly present the facts and reason out. Even if it doesn’t make sense once or twice, or if others are not convinced, we should not be depressed or anxious, but continue to persevere. Even as China’s comprehensive national strength has grown stronger, we should be modest, cautious, and guard against arrogance and rashness in the face of countries in the region and a wider range of members of the international community, so as not to leave a bad impression on others or an excuse for malicious speculation by the United States and its allies.
However, China should resolutely fight back against the malicious distortions, slanders and attacks of the United States, Japan and other countries on China’s development strategy and concept.
From beginning to end, we must make it clear that the pursuit of peace, cooperation and development is the greatest aspiration of most countries in the Asia Pacific region and the international community. But now, the biggest threat to regional and world peace, stability and development is not China, but a small circle of friends led by the United States.
The United States, from the narrow perspective of big power hegemony, mistakenly defines China as the largest strategic competitor of the United States, which has caused great anxiety. This is a problem that the United States must face.
At present, the responsibility for the poor Sino US relations lies not with China, but with the United States’ single-minded desire to contain, suppress, contain and slander China.
At present, the United States has established “aukus” and “Quad” in the Asia Pacific region, proposed “Hey, fie” (IPEF) and so on, madly provoked the one China principle on the Taiwan issue, attempted to “use Taiwan to control China”, and actively pacified NATO, trying to mess up and collapse the Asia Pacific region, so as to achieve the selfish purpose of continuing to maintain the hegemony of the United States in the region.
In short, the United States is the initiator of the deterioration of China US relations, the biggest threat to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia Pacific region, and the “villain” who wants to mess up and bring down the Asia Pacific.
China never wants to compete with the United States for hegemony in the Asia Pacific region. What China wants to compete for is who can make their own people live a better life, who can bring more lasting peace, more development opportunities and greater prosperity to the Asia Pacific region, and who can help the countries in the Asia Pacific region achieve their own development goals for a longer time and more effectively.
As for the malicious smear, slander and attack of the United States and Japan on China, China should retaliate politely and modestly, focus on exposing the “evil” of the United States, and aim to win more countries’ vigilance against the United States and recognition of China.
Finally, China should show a clear attitude towards the repeated provocations of China’s core interests by the United States and Japan: “China does not cause trouble, but China is not afraid of trouble.”
“Friends come with good wine, jackals come with shotguns.”
As early as 2018, when the US trump administration unilaterally launched a trade war against China, China had this attitude.
Trump originally thought that the trade war could intimidate and induce the industrial chain to move out of China, thus severely hitting the Chinese economy. However, he did not expect that China’s dominant position in the global industrial chain was formed by a combination of cost, efficiency, quality, capital, technology and other factors, and the United States could not strike it casually.
Especially since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the United States had hoped to see China’s jokes and waited for the industrial chain to continue to return to the United States. However, it did not expect that China would take the lead in controlling the epidemic and achieve rapid economic and social recovery. Instead, the United States itself fell into one round after another of the epidemic, with heavy casualties among the people and the government in a mess.
Recently, the Biden administration of the United States has repeatedly said that it will cancel some tariffs imposed by the trump administration on Chinese products exported to the United States, which fully shows that the trade war launched by trump will end in the complete failure of the United States.
I believe that at this moment, some people in the United States should better understand what China means when it says “we don’t cause trouble, but we are not afraid of trouble”.
China’s attitude towards Sino US relations during the Biden administration is the same. Despite Biden’s tossing and turning, new terms and concepts are emerging one after another. However, if the United States does not follow the right path and only wants to contain, suppress, contain and slander China, the United States will certainly not succeed.
“China does not cause trouble, but China is not afraid of trouble.”
The meaning behind a simple sentence is not simple.
It clarifies China’s traditional culture of “peace is the most precious” since ancient times, and also clarifies China’s current diplomatic strategy; More importantly, it makes clear China’s own determination, confidence and confidence in the face of the “black hand and stumbling block” of the United States and its allies.
This “grand gate banquet” in Singapore has just opened. We look forward to and believe that the Chinese delegation will certainly perform well at this dialogue meeting, because fundamentally speaking, we are opening the door, following the main road and being open and aboveboard. China’s pursuit of peace, development, prosperity and stability is in line with the common aspirations of the vast majority of countries in the Asia Pacific region and the international community.
It is precisely the United States and a few of its allies who constantly think of “giving China a black hand and a stumbling block”.
A just cause has more help than an unjust cause.
Chinese people with a long history and cultural tradition have long understood this sentence. Now, it is the turn of Americans with a history of more than 200 years to understand this sentence.