A senior Chinese army official and the Russian defense minister accused certain countries of wanting to “create problems” in Asia and elsewhere during a defense forum in Beijing on Monday.
The two men each gave a speech at the Xiangshan Forum, which brings together militaries and diplomats from 90 countries.
China is hosting this forum in the absence of a sitting Chinese defense minister after it was announced last week that Li Shangfu had been fired without an official explanation.
Opening the conference, General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he was concerned about the influence of “certain countries” on the rest of the world, apparently aiming to address a hidden criticism of the United States.
“In today’s world there is one trouble spot after another. The pain of war, chaos and turmoil and the loss of life is constantly manifesting itself,” the general said.
“Some countries, fearing the stabilization of the world, are deliberately creating problems, interfering in regional affairs, interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and fomenting color revolutions,” he said.
“To serve their selfish interests, they hammer nails everywhere. They create many artificial geopolitical conflicts, then preach impartiality while actually favoring one of the parties, making the regional situations complex and intractable,” he added.
“Behind the scenes they distribute knives and are not afraid to provoke wars to ensure that they are the ones who benefit from chaos,” he concluded.
But the general also noted that Beijing wants to improve intermilitary communications with Washington, where tensions have increased over the South China Sea – a disputed territory – and Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.
“We are also willing to expand military relations between China and the United States in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” he said.
– “Catastrophic consequences” –
After the Chinese general, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused Washington of wanting to create instability in Asia.
“After provoking an acute crisis in Europe, the West is trying to expand the potential for crisis to the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
“The direct involvement of countries with nuclear arsenals multiplies the strategic risks,” he added.
And “the West’s escalatory stance towards Russia poses the risk of a direct conflict between nuclear powers, which would have catastrophic consequences.”
China has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and has sought to position itself as a neutral party in the conflict while offering key diplomatic and financial support to Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a two-day visit to Beijing this month, his first trip to a major world power since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that isolated Russia on the international stage.
General Zhang, who exchanged a hug with the Russian minister on the sidelines of this forum, assured on Monday that Beijing would try to “strengthen strategic cooperation and coordination between the Chinese and Russian armies.”
published October 30 at 6:18 a.m., AFP
share