The top diplomats of the United States, China and Russia all urged greater international cooperation Friday (May 7) to address global challenges, including the new crown epidemic, yet the U.S. secretary of state and the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers engaged in a heated exchange over different world views and who threatens multilateralism.
It was the first time since Blinken became U.S. secretary of state that he and the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers gathered for a high-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council, although the meeting was held by video link. China holds the presidency of the UN Security Council this month, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the meeting.
While there were significant differences on issues such as human rights and democracy, all three countries said they are ready to work with countries to address international challenges on all fronts, including the new crown epidemic, climate change and ending conflict and supporting poverty.
Secretary Blinken said the commitment of nations to work together to prevent conflict, reduce suffering and defend human rights after World War II is now under serious threat. He cited the rise of nationalism, increased oppression and deepening antagonism.
“Today, some question whether multilateral cooperation is even possible,” Blinken told the Council. “The United States believes it is not only possible, but extremely necessary.”
“No country, – no matter how powerful – can meet the challenge alone,” Blinken said, so the United States will work through multilateral mechanisms to eradicate new crown epidemics, address the climate crisis, curb the spread and use of nuclear weapons, provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and manage conflict.
“We will work with any country on these issues – including those with whom we have serious differences,” he said. “At the same time, when we see countries undermining the international order, pretending that the rules we have all agreed on don’t exist, or simply violating them at will, we will continue to push back strongly.”
Blinken called on all nations to implement their obligations under the U.N. Charter, treaties and Security Council resolutions, international humanitarian law, the World Trade Organization and other global organizations.
He said the United States does not seek this “rules-based order” to “keep other countries down. He noted that the international order the U.S. helped create and defend “has allowed some of our fiercest competitors to rise to the top.
“The rights and dignity of human beings must remain at the heart of the international order,” Blinken stressed.
Some governments, he said, insist that what they do within their own borders is their own internal business, but the Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes clear that these human rights are universal and that these governments do not have a “blank check that they can fill out at will to enslave, torture, disappear or ethnically clarify their own people, or in any other way violate their human rights”.
Blinken’s comments were clearly a criticism of human rights abuses by countries such as China, including its treatment of the Uighur minority and Myanmar’s actions against Rohingya Muslims.
Blinken also said that some countries do not respect the principle of equality among nations, which was established when the United Nations was founded, and want to redraw the borders of other countries, threaten to use force to settle territorial disputes, claim the right to establish spheres of influence, or spread disinformation against other countries, disrupt elections or crack down on journalists and dissidents.
Although Blinken did not name any country, it clearly meant something, referring to China’s actions in the South China Sea and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in Ukraine and attempts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election and arrest opposition leader Nalwani and journalists.
Both Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized the importance of maintaining the centrality of multilateralism in the United Nations, while Blinken did not make such an emphasis.
Wang Yi referred to the declaration adopted by leaders last September on the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, which said that “multilateralism is not an option, but a necessity.”
Wang Yi called “the United Nations the banner of multilateralism.” China will continue to hold high the banner of multilateralism,” he said, adding that “China is ready to work with all parties to push multilateralism to set sail again, to push the United Nations to regroup and set sail again, and to build a community of human destiny.”
The Chinese foreign minister said that “in the face of the epidemic of the century and the century-old changes, all parties should firmly walk hand in hand …… to practice true multilateralism.”
He said, “To cooperate for a win-win situation, not a zero-sum game …… no country should expect others to lose, but should be committed to win together with others to achieve universal security and common prosperity.”
He also called for “fairness and justice, not bullying and hegemony” and said that “international rules are not the preserve and privilege of a few countries, and cannot engage in exceptionalism and double standards.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was even more explicit in his targeting of the United States and other Western countries.
He said that the global governance structure established after the end of World War II “is being put to a major test.
Lavrov said, “Unfortunately, not all of our partners are operating under the guidance that honest efforts must be made to establish genuine multilateral cooperation.”
Lavrov accused the “leading Western countries” of being unable to advance their “unilateral or bloc priorities within the United Nations” and of trying to make a difference in the creation of a He accused the “leading Western countries” of being unable to promote their “unilateral or bloc priorities within the UN” and of trying to reverse the process of creating a “multipolar, polycentric world” and of trying to “tie up the course of history”.
He also accused the West of setting its own rules and imposing them on other countries, and bypassing the United Nations to take what he called “harmful” actions.
Lavrov referred to U.S. President Joe Biden’s call for a summit on democracy. He warned that “the creation of a new club of special interests on an overtly ideological basis risks further exacerbating international tensions and drawing dividing lines in a world that needs unity more than ever at this moment.”
He also mentioned the Franco-German multilateralist alliance. The Russian foreign minister said this should be considered within the framework of the United Nations and not outside. He said the West has created “narrow partnerships” on topics that have already been discussed at the UN or its agencies, such as cyberspace, humanitarian law, freedom of information and democracy.
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken concluded his remarks by saying, “We remain deeply divided among U.N. member states and within the Security Council. But the United States will spare no effort to find and build on common ground with any country that is committed to the order we have built together, and together we must defend and reinvigorate that order.”
He said, “This is the great test of the moment, and let’s face it together.”
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