SPEECH delivered by American President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly are reflective of stark differences of perceptions and strategies being followed by the two great powers of the world as the latter laid emphasis on amity and cooperation while the former adopted an aggressive tone. Trump repeated the old mantra by calling upon the world to hold China accountable for its actions over Covid-19 pandemic while Xi categorically stated that Beijing has “no intention to fight either a Cold War or a hot one with any country” adding that his country will continue to narrow differences and resolve disputes with others through dialogue and negotiation.
It is regrettable that despite goodwill gestures and restraint shown by Beijing, the United States persists with its strategy of containing China, which has no aggressive designs against any nation of the globe and is instead firmly pursuing the policy of mutual respect and coexistence. History bears testimony to the fact that the US believes in ‘might is right’ and prefers settling scores through military and economic aggression and the latest example is bypassing the UN in re-imposition of sanctions against Iran on the nuclear issue. It also initiated an uncalled for trade war with China just as part of the efforts to curb its rise as a global economic power. It is only the United States that has imposed wars on small and weak countries, has a declared policy of regime change and resorts frequently to imposition of sanctions to advance its strategic objectives for different countries and regions of the globe. As against this, Chinese leadership, as per its vision of shared prosperity, has initiated historic projects like One Belt, One Road (OBOR) to link dozens of the countries of the world in a chain of progress and development. Pakistan is already receiving dividends of its participation in the flagship project of OBOR (CPEC) while many countries are eager to join China in making the world a global village in the true sense of the word. As for Trump’s rhetoric about the spread of the virus, no one is ready to buy his argument as China not only worked with a commitment to eliminate the virus not just domestically but also is extending all sorts of cooperation to other countries in tackling the situation.
