The United Nations:
Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang warned on Friday against a return to a “Cold War Mentality” and defended multilateralism and free trade, in a veiled criticism of the United Nations.
The Chinese Prime Minister did not make any explicit reference to US President Donald Trump when he was addressed to the United Nations General Assembly. But he threw Asian power as a defender of the World Order, of which Washington was until recently the chief goalkeeper.
“The world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation,” said Li.
“Unilateralism and (the) mentality of the Cold War resurface. The international rules and the order established in the past 80 years are subject to a challenge and that the formerly effective international system is constantly disturbed,” he said, adding that humanity was “once again arrived at a crossroads”.
Li criticized the imposition of prices, which Trump has entered as a key tool to put pressure on countries, even if he has reached a truce with China.
“A major cause of current global economic slump is the increase in unilateral and protectionist measures such as pricing increases and the erection of walls and barriers,” said Li.
“China has always opened its door to the world.”
Li said China “hopes to work with the rest of the world to maintain the ideals of the UN”.
The United States and its Pacific allies have long requested that China accepts the status quo and authorizes freedom of navigation in the Southern China Strategic Sea, where Beijing has a myriad of disputes.
The Trump administration, although it is still criticizing in China, has moved away from the defense of international conventions and rather emphasized American raw power.
