UUkraine

‘You are the big problem of this region’: Ukraine, China, US trade barbs I DW Analysis

  • June 2, 2024



‘You are the big problem of this region’: Ukraine, China, US trade barbs I DW Analysis

defense leaders from around the world have been in Singapore this weekend for an International Security conference the shangry law dialogue is Asia’s foremost Defense Forum this year’s attendees included representatives from China the United States Australia and Indonesia The Forum focused on security issues in the asia-pacific region including tensions between China and thawan there was also a surprise appearance from Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski it is only the second time zilinski has traveled to Asia since Russia launched its fullscale Invasion zalinski accused China and Russia of trying to disrupt an upcoming peace Summit on the war in Ukraine he said Beijing was pressuring other nations not to attend zalinsky said more than 100 countries and organizations had signed up to the peace Summit taking place in Switzerland this month and urged asia-pacific Nations to join them we are disappointed that some world leaders have not yet confirmed their participation in the peace Summit unfortunately there are also attempts to disrupt the summit we do not want to believe that this is a desire for monopolistic power in the world to deny the global Community the opportunity to decide on War and Peace and to live these power in the hands of one or two DW’s Chief International editor Richard Walker has been at the Gathering all weekend uh Richard thanks for joining us uh so zalinski it seemed like the Rockstar of the Shangri laaw dialogue he hasn’t headed uh East much since the invasion of his country was it made clear from what he said why he felt like turning up in Singapore was important yeah well I think there’s a few things Melissa I mean of course ever since the the the War Began seninsky has has made it a major priority to try to drum up diplomatic support for Ukraine’s position and in the early phase of the war of course he did that always remotely from Ukraine um and then he started traveling internationally but you’re right this is the only time that he’s only the second time that he’s headed to Asia the last time was almost exactly a year ago that was to the G7 Summit which was in Japan and I was at that Summit and that was also yeah it also had almost this kind of quality of a rockstar entrance you know in into a summit that was mostly uh um not necessarily expecting him to show up that of course was an opposition an opportunity for him to meet uh G7 leaders these are of course the the rich mostly Western Powers countries that are mostly on his side already um but what’s an important thing for him is to try to win over countries that are either you know not committed to him at all or less committed so for instance last year in Japan he also spoke to narro Modi the prime minister of India who was attending the G7 Summit as a guest and that was seen as an important opportunity for him to get FaceTime with him fast forward to now hear it in uh Singapore for the shanga dialogue this was an opportunity for a couple of things first of all to meet Regional leaders from here in Southeast Asia you had important leaders assembled here for instance the incoming president um of Indonesia who he had uh a chance to meet with directly um there are all sorts of other major delegations from Southeast Asian countries here from Singapore from Malaysia um other countries around the region and also it gave him an opportunity to be in a context with China as well and um you just mentioned that in the intro I think this is really interesting and quite striking that zalinski uh pretty much for the first time was openly critical of China um for a couple of things first of all for sticking by Russia for being so supportive of Russia um and then secondly for as he is putting it um both not showing up to his peace conference that he uh is advocating for later this month um but also claiming that China was alongside Russia trying to persuade other countries not to show up either um and I think yeah this is a bit of a turning point with respect to Ukraine’s attitude towards China because although China it’s been pretty clear all along really it has been very supportive of Russia in this war in terms of economic support political support diplomatic support um Ukraine has been cautious about criticizing China I guess the reason really being hoping that they can try to get some kind of help from China absolutely I mean Richard I think one thing is a pre-invasion the Chinese were investing a fair amount in Ukraine as part of its belt and Road initiative and my sense was always the ukrainians had an eye uh to that those dollars those uh those Yen rather right uh for reconstruction in a post-war scenario but it looks like zalinski is finally burning that bridge like you said it’s a turning point um and uh I would say pretty significant wouldn’t you say that that as well yeah oh definitely and I think it it it’s being seen that way here as well um that for the longest time ukrainians tried to kind of hold open the idea that that China might at some point um be helpful in some way in this situation um so uh for instance you know China came out early last year with this um what they described as a position paper on peace for Ukraine um it was very much kind of tilted towards the Russian view of things but the ukrainians did not reject it out of hand they were not sort of openly critical of it they really tried to kind of keep the door open a bit um there was one phone call between shiiping and Vladimir zilinski um after that I think there’s definitely disappointment there hasn’t been more engagement from the Chinese with with ukrainians but yeah today you had Vladimir zinski saying that xiin ping had promised him during that phone call that China would stay on the sidelines in this war and that it would not provide Russia with weapons um and you had Z he’s saying well okay uh what we are seeing is Chinese elements um he wasn’t really specific about what but showing up in uh Russian weapon Weaponry he did add that you see elements like components from other countries also showing up in weapons but whenever that would happen that the ukrainians would then get in touch with those countries and say hey why is this component from your country in these weapons um but pretty much pointing the finger here at CH saying you know okay xiin ping made me a promise and yeah implicitly saying he doesn’t feel that that promise is being honored now uh you touched on this a little earlier I want to dig a little deeper into this about um uh his reception to an extent I’ve wondered whether you know he’s turned up because there’s been some indopacific skepticism of Ukraine’s war efforts having formerly been based in Asia myself uh there’s certainly plenty of anti-western sentiment in many uh understandably post Colonial countries particularly in Southeast Asia and there’s been this feeling that the West has cared more about Ukraine than other conflicts in the world and hence uh this subsequent resentment would you say you felt that Vibe this weekend I mean we talked about zelinsky’s entrance and how excited people were do you think zalinski changed hearts and Minds in Asia yeah well it’s hard to tell of course that the people who are here attending this Summit not necessarily representative of um you know Ordinary People in countries around this region you know you’ve got military people here you’ve got diplomats you’ve got really a kind of a slice of the elite um but it is absolutely a fact that there are you know many people in this region countries in this region especially Muslim majority countries which look at what’s been going on um in Gaza over the last few months um and say that the Western as they see it toleration of Civilian suffering in Gaza contrasts with Western outrage and civilian suffering in Ukraine um and it’s very common to hear this expression of double standards um and this presents a problem for Ukraine that this sense of of Western double standards it is kind of um yeah is kind of being applied to Ukraine as well of course although Ukraine itself is is the victim of an invasion um and zilinski when posed a question about this today insisted you know we don’t have double standards um saying that although he stands by Israel’s uh right to um defend itself against the Hamas terrorist attack of October the 7th last year um but that Ukraine still calls and has called upon Israel to abide by international human human Arian law in its operations in Gaza so seninsky very much rejecting any sense of double standards himself but like the accusation of double standards is not so much aimed at Ukraine it’s aimed at Ukraine’s supporters and and and it’s aimed at this kind of sense that the International Community is giving more attention to the Ukraine war than to the Middle East war that of course presents problems to him because his main priority is to try to resolve his crisis I want to switched now to the US and China both had delegations and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was President so how’d that go yeah so I mean there are a couple of levels to this of course I mean this is really you know even bigger than the Ukraine world this is the big issue here in this region is the uh the deteriorating relations between uh the US and China and on one level there was uh seen to be some progress in that uh Lloyd dtin the US Secretary of Defense met his Chinese counterpart the Chinese defense minister dong Jun uh they had a it was said to be a 75 minute meeting um on the first day of uh the conference here and that contrasted last year when there was no meeting between uh Austin and his then counterpart who who since uh was mysteriously removed from his job so um and that of course was part of this this kind of freezing contacts that happened uh over the previous couple of years that you know went back to the visit by Nancy Pelosi the the then house Speaker of the United States to Taiwan which enraged the Chinese they shut down Communications and then there was another huge bump in the road when uh there was the uh alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States the United States shot it down with this C another bruhaha so the there’s a sense now that but since November when you remember Joe Biden and xiin ping met in California um and they kind of agreed to get communication back on track um that this was the next stage of that a face to-face meeting between the defense ministers and that this is a very important part of of of reconnecting the two militaries that they can communicate uh better especially uh to avoid you know potential crises emerging in some of the Hotpot areas particularly the South China Sea but also the Taiwan straight yeah I have a question about that you wouldn’t want say you know if a a US Navy ship yeah I mean was Taiwan present were there any Taiwan Representatives speaking of Taiwan no there’s no Taiwan de delegation here and that is unfortunately that is the reality of this kind of conference that that Taiwan uh tends not to have an official representation and uh you feel this at the Munich security conference as well that there’s a lot of talk about Taiwan but Taiwan is not in the room um and that was particularly striking in the speech by the Chinese defense minister dong Jun that he spent a long time speaking about Taiwan pretty aggressively towards the new Taiwanese leader William lie um and uh when asked a question about Taiwan also just basically um you know filled time ranting for 10 minutes um about uh about Taiwan so so real sense that Taiwan is a major issue it’s potentially the flasho that could trigger a World War but no one from Taiwan here and that speaks to taiwan’s uh sense of isolation Richard we tend to just report on these security conferences uh but just to put some historical context to this and I I think of those black and white videos of Defense ministers meetings in the inter Warrior years and um for people tuning in that’s kind of what’s going on here uh at Shangri La dialogue at the Munich security conference government officials are meeting in most part to avoid escalation to avoid war so the question is how would you grade this past weekend’s performance on that front yeah well I mean there are a couple of levels to this like the fact that that meeting took place between the Chinese and the American defense ministers that is obviously a good thing and you hear that from delegates here like southeast Asia it would be the nightmare of all nightmares if um the the US and China kind of accidentally slipped into war so definitely people here are pleased that that meeting took place um but I mean you use the Expression inter War years and I mean I think yeah there’s definitely a fear that that could be what we’re in here that we’re in inter War years that there is a war coming at some point um and I did have that feeling a couple of times when listening to both of the defense ministers main speeches so it happens that Saturday morning you have the US defense minister speaking Sunday morning you have the Chinese defense minister speaking um and there was a kind of almost a mirror image of the two speeches in some ways in that um both of them kind of talked about each other without actually referring to each other directly by name so and Lloyd Austin the US defense secretary was talking a lot about we’re bu building up uh relationships with allies here in the region we’re we’re strengthening our position we’re supporting allies for for kind of free movement and and you know to ensure stability in the in the in Southeast Asia South China SE this whole region building up what they call this sort latis work of of their alliances um and the spoken part of it was all of this is because of you China because everyone is worried that you want to dominate this region then moved to Sunday the US uh the Chinese defense minister um was in fullon attack mode against the United States without saying the the the name of the United States directly and talking about outside powers that are trying to create a block mentality uh trying to create a new Cold War um and yeah you really had a sense of the two big beasts the two superpowers of the world standing in front of this region and saying to each other you are the big problem of this region and of the world and I think everyone here is on the one hand you know a lot of countries here they definitely want the United States to help them be avoid being dominated by China on the other hand they are very worried about a cold war that could divide this region and could erupt into a hot War so I think there’s a really intense sense of discomfort about where the world is at the moment and particularly about where this region is and yeah do I know whether this weekend’s conference has raised or reduce the risk of War I simply don’t know I’m afraid Richard Walker thank you so much for joining us

Defense leaders from around the world have been in Singapore this weekend for an international security conference. The Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s foremost defense forum. This year’s attendees included representatives from China, the United States, Australia, and Indonesia. The forum focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, including tensions between China and Taiwan.

There was also a suprise appearance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is only the second time Zelenskyy has travelled to Asia since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Zelenskyy accused China and Russia of trying to disrupt an upcoming peace summit on the war in Ukraine. He said Bejing was pressuring other nations not to attend.

Zelenskyy said more than 100 countries and organisations had signed up to the peace summit taking place in Switzerland this month, and urged Asia-Pacific nations to join them.

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22 comments

  1. CORRECTION: We apologize for the outdated image behind our anchor. The video is of course about the 2024 summit 🤦🧐

  2. I don’t know if China is prolonging the war. But I do know if the West stops supplying weapons Ukraine will collapse immediately and the war is instantly over. Even with the West’s assistance Ukraine will likely surrender before 5 November after the death of millions of Ukrainians.

  3. In November 1943, the heads of state of China, the United States and the United Kingdom wrote in the Cairo Declaration: "… The purpose of the Three countries is to deprive Japan of all the islands acquired or occupied by Japan in the Pacific Ocean since the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and to restore to the Republic of China all the territories Japan has stolen from China, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores." Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation, issued on July 26, 1945, states: "The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out, and Japan's sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such other small islands as we determine."

    After the defeat of Japan, the government of the Republic of China sent warships to inspect and recover the major islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands such as Taiping and Zhongye in December 1946, received all the islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands and stationed in the main island of the Nansha Islands. In 1947, the government of the Republic of China renamed 159 islands, reefs and beaches in the South China Sea, including the Nansha Islands, and announced them for implementation. At the same time, the government of the Republic of China published the map of the South China Sea, which marked China's territorial sovereignty and historic waters in the South China Sea with an 11-dash line. Since then, for a long time, the United States has not objected to this official, considering the important influence of the United States in Asia after World War II and the Republic of China government and later Taiwan authorities and the United States to maintain a long-term alliance, the United States is obviously aware of and recognized.

    The split between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the outbreak of the Cold War, and the opposition between the two major camps in the world have made the U.S. government have more expedient considerations on the ownership of islands and reefs in the South China Sea. The San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan (hereinafter referred to as the "San Francisco Peace Treaty") was signed on September 8, 1951 and entered into force on April 28, 1952, aiming to resolve the territorial and international status of Japan as a defeated power after the war. The treaty states that "Japan recognizes the independence of the Korean Peninsula and renounces its sovereignty over Formosa, Penghu, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, the Nansha Islands, the Paracel Islands, etc." Article 2, paragraph 6, of the "Territory" section of Chapter II stipulates that "Japan renounces all rights, reputation, and claims over the Nansha Islands and the Paracel Islands, and declares to the United Nations at that time, which is documented." You can check the archives and libraries of the United States, Britain and France, and most of the materials confirm that the South China Sea Islands belong to China. In September 1933, the magazine "Painted Colonial World" published in France recorded that among the nine islands of Nansha Islands, only the Chinese (Hainan people) lived there, and there were no other Chinese people outside the Chinese. At that time, there were 7 residents on Southwest Island (Nanzi Island), among whom 2 were children; Emperor Island (Zhongye Island) there are 5 residents; Separa Island (Nanwei Island) has 4 inhabitants, 1 more than in 1930; Luowan Island (Nanyao Island), there are Chinese gods, huts, Wells; Iduaba Island (Taiping Island), although no trace of people, and the discovery of Chinese characters, means that the transport of food so far, no one can be found, because it is hidden in iron (French original for stone) under; The other islands are also full of fishermen. The magazine also records that Taiping Island, Zhongye Island, Nanwei Island and other islands have lush vegetation, water Wells to drink, coconut trees, banana trees, papaya trees, pineapples, vegetables, potatoes, etc., and poultry, suitable for human habitation.

  5. CCP's China has always been the problem but it cunning shifts the blame to others, same as Russia. Btw, why did Wuhan virus become an epidemic which kills 7.5m people in the first place?

  7. All the comments in here are laughing about what has veen said . I do agree with certain extended because they shoud be more precise with Peace Summits of the peace lover nations. So, naturally how they can jointly stop the agreesion of bully nations.

  17. @bonnie7898 We have a right to criticise any regime that starts border disputes, and threatens world peace.
    //… the border disputes were originally created by the British imperialism who colonized India at that time when they drew the boundaries at British/India benefits w/o China's input/approval, creating this unclear mess. After India's independence, India kept same but to-date it has been a headache…It hasn't threaten world peace yet but is btwn India n China to work it out among themselves without outside US interference.

  21. Why should the world get involved in a European war between NATO and Russia? Ukraine has no say other than being a puppet fighting a proxy war for the US. What peace summit is this clown talking about? The closest they came to peace was a year and a half ago when this puppet called off a deal with Russia because another clown Boris Johnson said he was winning. Comedian Zelenskyy knows he has no way out this time but to drag everybody in. He can call the shots if he wants to end the war. This summit is not about peace. It's about the collective West trying to show the world how many countries are on their side.

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