“Being number one is not the most important issue.”
03:12
Xi Jinping, Joe Biden hold talks on sidelines of Apec summit to ease strained US-China ties
Xi Jinping, Joe Biden hold talks on sidelines of Apec summit to ease strained US-China ties
Kong gave his assessment at a forum organised by the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, the China Public Diplomacy Association and the Beijing Club for International Dialogue.
He said the meeting in San Francisco was “encouraging”, and analysts and the media should focus less on “hegemonies” and more on Chinese and Asian collaborations with the West.
The meeting signalled a reset between the two countries, although differences remain over Taiwan, the South China Sea and conflicts such as Ukraine.
Kong said for the reset to be sustained, global media and observers should understand that cold war talk was not an Asian value.
But working together was, he said, pointing to the success of racially diverse countries like Singapore.
“The Asian way is a peaceful one; a win-win approach is a unique value in Asia,” Kong said.
03:47
‘Door to China-US relations will not be closed again’: Xi Jinping offers assurances to US businesses
‘Door to China-US relations will not be closed again’: Xi Jinping offers assurances to US businesses
Wang Gangyi, a senior research fellow at the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, also addressed the forum, saying it was futile to pursue the narrative of competition between the US and China.
“There are so many problems to solve yet competition is the main focus in Western narratives … and they are often tied to threats to national security … and revolve around a simplistic view of democracies and autocracies,” Wang said.
“It is frightening that we continue to use this narrative.”
He said most of these messages were designed to validate territorial competition, as in the case of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
To combat these narratives, the region should speak up, especially when the views of many countries in Asia and beyond differed from the West’s, he added.
Asia also could not “blindly copy” a single Western political model, Wang added.
Apec summit 2023: China, Japan leaders pledge to ‘coexist peacefully’
Apec summit 2023: China, Japan leaders pledge to ‘coexist peacefully’
Li Mingjiang, the provost chair in international relations at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said research indicated that Asian countries valued community stability and were more willing to adopt state-led economic models rather than the free market capitalism of the West.
Li said proponents of Asia values also considered the universal application of Western-style human rights as culturally insensitive and failing “to account for the unique circumstances of Asian societies”.
“I will argue that it’s important to contextualise human rights instead of respecting any particular definition,” Li said.
“We should strive for a balance between collective well-being, social harmony and respect for authority on the one hand, and individual rights, freedoms and democratic principles on the other.”
Kong, a former Chinese ambassador to Japan, said Asian countries should focus on charting their own path rather than follow the one Japan took in the 1990s.
During that time, many saw Japan as having ceded to powers such as the US, choosing to fit into the US “hegemon” rather than challenge it.
Crippled by that, Japan was not able to make it own decisions or set effective policies, he added.
Separately, Beijing sae Tokyo as a partner and collaborator, not a threat, he said.
At Apec, Beijing and Tokyo pledged to moderate their animosity to seek mutually beneficial relations and “coexist peacefully”.
