Li Qiang touts China’s global vision at UN, slams Washington isolationism

Chinese Premier Li Qiang urged the United Nations on Friday to embrace multilateral values and a stable global order, took pointed swipes at the US and called for reforms that reflect Beijing’s development model.

“Solidarity lifts everyone up,” Li said, without mentioning US President Donald Trump by name. “History keeps reminding us that when might dictate right, the world risks division and regression.”

“Should the era of the Law of the Jungle return and the weak be left as a prey to the strong, human society would face even more bloodshed and brutality.”

The premier also took a slap at Trump’s “America first” tariff policies that have targeted almost every country on earth. “A major cause of the current global economic doldrums is the rise of unilateral and protectionist measures such as tariff hikes and erection of walls and barriers,” he told representatives of some 190 nations in the cavernous General Assembly hall, suggesting that they combine to circumvent Washington.

“We should collaborate more closely to identify and expand convergence of interests, promote universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, and help each other succeed by moving forward in the same direction.”

Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives in New York on Monday to attend the UN General Assembly. Photo: Xinhua

Drawing on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the premier touted the relative peace and economic prosperity that has ensued by adhering to global rules and collective action.

South China Morning Post