In response to a question by a NBC reporter, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi rejected US president Donald Trump’s format of a China-United States hegemony. Instead, Wang affirmed China’s anti-hegemony and pro-multipolarity positions.
Said Wang,
[W]e should not forget there are more than 190 countries on our planet. World history has always been written by many countries together. And the future of humanity will be forged through the collective efforts of all nations.
Continuing, Wang spoke to how a world would differ from the current US hegemony with its Western conception of a rules-based order:
Diversity is the inherent nature of human society and multipolarity is what the international landscape should look like.
University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer staunchly rejects such diversity and the willingness of a great power to not only accept but trumpet multipolarity. The reality, asserts Mearsheimer, is that “communist China” covets power.
According to the professor, China is fated to struggle to be the top dog in the world order. That is the path the US followed to become an imperialist power; Mearsheimer says China cannot escape such a destiny. This mindset exemplifies geopolitical determinism.
In an online video interview, Mearsheimer opined,
The United States is a highly aggressive state that runs around the world using its power quite liberally. Why do you think that if China had a powerful military that it wouldn’t do the same thing? The United States just doesn’t want any other power on the planet to be more powerful than it is. I think that any other country on the planet, if it had its druthers, would want to be the most powerful state in the system. And the reason is that the international system is a really dangerous place. It is in many ways a brutal jungle. All you have to do is look at what is happening to the Palestinians. If you were the Palestinians, wouldn’t you want your own state, and wouldn’t you want that your state to be really powerful, so that nobody, in effect, could mess around with you? I think the Chinese are driven by this mentality?
Ascribing such a mentality to China is firmly denied by Wang and explained with reason:
Looking back in history, great power rivalry and block confrontation have invariably inflicted disaster and pain on humanity. Therefore, China will never take the beaten path of seeking hegemony as its strength grows. Nor do we subscribe to the logic that the world can be run by major countries. China has inscribed in its constitution that it follows an independent foreign policy and is committed to pursuing a path of peaceful development. Chinese leaders have often declared to the world that no matter how the international situation evolves and how strong China becomes, it will never seek hegemony or expansion. [italics added]
This declaration has been oft stated by China’s chairman Xi Jinping.
Wang echoes the sentiments of Xi:
As for how the international landscape should evolve, China’s proposal is to build an equal and orderly multipolar world. Equal means every nation regardless of size or strength is an equal member of the international community and can find its place and play its role in a multipolar world. Orderly means all countries should uphold the widely recognized international rules, namely the purposes and principles of the UN charter and the basic norms of international relations. Building an equal and orderly multipolar world should be the common responsibility of all countries with more resources and capabilities.
Wang identifies China as one of those countries that work toward a multipolar world.
Isn’t such a peaceful world much better than one in which a hegemon rampages? In first year of the Trump presidency, the US has been backing a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine; warring against Yemen; supporting a bloody genocide in Palestine; celebrating a terrorist head chopper in Syria; murdering people in Venezuela and kidnapping its president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores; threatening Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) with takeover; bombing Nigeria; bombing Ecuador; disrespecting Canada as a 51st state; promoting the taking back of the Panama Canal; attempting to throttle Cuba economically; and launching two sneak attacks in a year against Iran, wherein the most recent sneak attack bombed an elementary school killing at least 160 young girls and their teachers. That war still rages.
There is a Chinese vision of a multipolar world that is starkly at odds with the violent American hegemonic vision.
Which vision do the people of the world prefer?
The post China Rejects a Joint US-China Hegemony appeared first on Dissident Voice.
This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Kim Petersen.