Macau Monthly: The US State Department spokesperson said the other day that the basic tenet of the international order that “big countries cannot bully small countries” has been violated in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. What is your comment?
Zhao Lijian: How ironic it is for the US to say “big countries cannot bully small countries”. If the US can reflect on what it did to Cuba and Panama in 1960s, Grenada in 1980s, the?Federal?Republic?of?Yugoslavia in 1990s, Afghanistan and Iraq at the start of this century, and Syria and Libya afterwards, it would find that these are textbook examples of big countries bullying small countries. Why hasn’t the US said a word about these facts? The US should wear label of the big bullying the small well.
The fundamental way out?of the Ukraine crisis is?dialogue and negotiation, rather than “rules-based order” unilaterally defined according to one’s own standards, still less coercing others to pick sides and creating the chilling effect of dividing countries into friend or foe.
The world needs peace, not war; it calls for justice, not hegemony; it aspires for cooperation, not confrontation. This is what the vast majority of countries in the world are hoping for. There is only one system in the world, which is the international system with the UN at its core. There is only one order, which is the international order underpinned by international law. There is only?one set of rules, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. If the US is sincere about easing the situation in Ukraine, then it should stand on the side of peace and justice as most countries do in the world.
Macau Monthly: The US State Department spokesperson said the other day that the basic tenet of the international order that “big countries cannot bully small countries” has been violated in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. What is your comment?
Zhao Lijian: How ironic it is for the US to say “big countries cannot bully small countries”. If the US can reflect on what it did to Cuba and Panama in 1960s, Grenada in 1980s, the?Federal?Republic?of?Yugoslavia in 1990s, Afghanistan and Iraq at the start of this century, and Syria and Libya afterwards, it would find that these are textbook examples of big countries bullying small countries. Why hasn’t the US said a word about these facts? The US should wear label of the big bullying the small well.
The fundamental way out?of the Ukraine crisis is?dialogue and negotiation, rather than “rules-based order” unilaterally defined according to one’s own standards, still less coercing others to pick sides and creating the chilling effect of dividing countries into friend or foe.
The world needs peace, not war; it calls for justice, not hegemony; it aspires for cooperation, not confrontation. This is what the vast majority of countries in the world are hoping for. There is only one system in the world, which is the international system with the UN at its core. There is only one order, which is the international order underpinned by international law. There is only?one set of rules, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. If the US is sincere about easing the situation in Ukraine, then it should stand on the side of peace and justice as most countries do in the world.
