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May 2023 is destined to go down in the annals of human history. The China-Central Asia Summit was preceded by the G5 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and both issued joint communiqués or declarations. Behind these words, does it mean whether the world pattern can strictly adhere to the belief in the post-war international order, can it abide by the promise of peace and multilateral cooperation, or does it mean that a "fallen aristocracy" sharpens its sword in the face of China's rise?
Taiwan's media and public opinion look at the perspective of these two summits is very interesting, regardless of blue and green colors, the Xi'an Summit "sprinkles coins", "regardless of the life and death of Chinese people", parroting the American media's language mediation to read the declaration: "are some vain and false big empty content." In contrast, the Hiroshima summit "great power leaders" praised the commitment of "peace in the Taiwan Strait" and the harsh criticism of the Chinese mainland. First, it reflects the unchanged "three views" of Taiwan's so-called "democratic politics" for decades, and second, it vaguely foreshadows Taiwan's hesitation before the world changes.
"Peace" becomes a fig leaf for "felling soldiers"?
The G2023 summit is being held in Hiroshima, Japan, today, and the political implications of the leaders of Western powers stepping on the land of the "first island chain" that has continued during the Cold War are self-evident. According to the analysis of public commentators, the most excited is Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who recently appeared on the cover of the American "TIME" magazine and was "recognized" by the Western mainstream media: "Japan's choice - Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants to abandon decades of pacifism and make his country a real military power", which made him shine.
Left: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on April 2023, 4. (Reuters) Right: Time magazine posted on May 20 the cover photo of the new issue of May 5-10, featuring Fumio Kishida. （Twitter@TIME）
In a photo discussed online (see figure below), members of the G7 leaders marched to the Peace Memorial Park in two columns, the former with the "American faction" including Fumio Kishida and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the latter column with the traditional "continental faction". This photo illustrates a lot of things, from scenery to bleakness, and is an objective portrayal of this deliberately high-profile summit:
1. "Same bed, different dreams" within G7 members;
2. G7 leaders have less than <>% support in China and are known as the "Clubs of Leaders with Low People's Expectations";
3. The G7 members' share of global GDP has fallen from <>% to <>% today.
What deserves more attention is its attitude towards China. The joint communiqué issued in advance is full of dozens of pages, mentioning China 20 times alone, the most in recent years. Although the communiqué stressed that "it does not seek to detach from China or turn inward", it also pointed the finger at China's "economic coercion" and "military action" to express "strongest condemnation". This shows that this group of leaders of the "Club of Rich Countries" still cannot understand and understand China, so they are groping their attitude towards China in a disordered and ambiguous way. At the same time, in a group-like manner, in Hiroshima, which is supposed to be a base for "peace" education, it showed China a posture of containment and containment, making a big fuss about Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang, and "peace" has become a fig leaf for "cutting troops".
G7 leaders walk to the Peace Memorial Park during the summit. （Reuters）
The most ironic thing is that the communiqué also expressed "the strongest condemnation" of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying that "Russia's brutal aggression is a global threat, and the leaders of the seven countries will unswervingly support Ukraine", and Volodymyr Zelenskyy also shouted in Hiroshima that "the world must be eliminated". However, in the more than a year since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the British and American powers have been the biggest obstacle to the truce and peace talks between the two sides; The United States even denied China's intention to call for a ceasefire, claiming that the ceasefire was tantamount to endorsing Russia's aggression.
In addition, Washington's elites have not stopped building Taiwan into a "weapons depot" for the United States against China, from an arms sales plan to plant mines on Taiwan's western coast, to a US think tank's proposal to strengthen the laying of mines in the Taiwan Strait. Copying Ukraine's war experience and making Taiwan move from war preparation to "inevitable war" is the subtext of the G7 communique's reiteration of "peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait"?
Beijing's "Diplomatic Relations" Demonstrate "New International Order"
Turning its attention to the "China-Central Asia Summit" in Xi'an, Taiwan has not paid much attention to it, and even regarded it as a "political show" that is different from the G7. However, Taiwanese scholar Zhou Yangshan wrote an interpretation that the precise location is due to the significance of this Xi'an summit:
This is another important milestone on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. This is also a new opportunity for Chinese to show that the world is one family, good neighbor, mutual communication, and win-win cooperation one year after the Slavic infighting triggered the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. This is a different new international order than the G7. But this is not welcomed by Western hegemonism, nor is it the established option of "America First", let alone the traditional thinking of the G7 countries. This is a true equality and reciprocity, two-way exchange, mutual learning and win-win cooperation, which can also be said to be the contemporary practice of the traditional Chinese view of heaven and the thought of kings. Zhou Yangshan: "East Rises and West Falls, Central Asian Opportunity"
On May 5, Xi'an, President Zaparov of Kyrgyzstan, President Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Rahmon of Tajikistan, President Xi Jinping of China, President Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, and President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan took a group photo at the opening ceremony. （Reuters）
Further, the Xi'an summit is actually an extension of China's great power diplomacy after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. From the visits of important national leaders such as Lee Hsien Loong and Emmanuel Macron, to Xi Jinping's visit to Russia, to Beijing's mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and China's special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui's visits to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to persuade peace and promote talks. Through political and diplomatic communication and coordination, especially the statement on the Taiwan issue and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the characteristics of the Chinese-style diplomatic line have gradually been revealed, and it has become the gatekeeper of the post-war international order.
Looking at the Xi'an Summit from this perspective, in the process of the United States moving towards unipolar hegemony after the war, Central Asia has always been a turbulent region of "color revolutions", and the United States can be seen behind it. The Xi'an Declaration contains the basic gods of peace, stability, cooperation, infrastructure development, and reciprocity of people's livelihood, as well as the declaration of safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries, but it is a new opportunity to reconstruct the geopolitical landscape of the Eurasian continent. Taiwanese media "Lianhe Pao" commented that after the Xi'an summit, China and Central Asia have an economic and security alliance.
The Lianhe Pao commentary pointed out even more sharply that compared with the Xi'an summit, the Hiroshima summit "can only step up the screwing of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines from the sea and from the east of China, and even whimsically pair the 'bridgehead of democracy' with the 'anchor of the Far East' for a weak confrontation", "highlighting the too romantic and marginal dilemma of the Hiroshima summit." In other words, regardless of whether the "new Cold War" has the word "new", the United States in the pattern of "rising east and falling west" is still looking at this world that is being reborn with a Cold War mentality.
There is a saying in "Sun Tzu's Art of War and Attack": "Go to the army to plan and plan, then cut down the army, then cut down the army, and then attack the city." What can be seen today is that the Hiroshima summit, represented by the United States, showed China's struggle and imagination of "cutting troops", and Taiwan is getting closer and closer to the battlefield. The Beijing-led Xi'an Summit showed the world the intention of moving from "felling diplomatic relations" to "felling schemes" on an extended line of China's great power diplomacy.
What is unavoidable is that the Taiwan issue has been put on the game table of "felling troops" or "felling diplomatic relations." For Taiwan, that means being at a naked crossroads of war and peace. How to make a choice? The Hiroshima summit and the Xi'an summit absolutely require repeated chewing by Taiwanese people.
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