U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy ‘as dangerous’ as NATO expansion in Europe, says China Vice Foreign Minister

Ukraine crisis “provides a mirror” to look at Asia, says Le Yucheng

The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and the creation of groups such as the Quad were “as dangerous” as NATO’s eastward expansion in Europe, a top Chinese official has said.

The Ukraine crisis, Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told a forum in Beijing on Saturday, “provides a mirror for us to observe the situation in the Asia-Pacific” and the region “faces two opposite choices: should we build an open and inclusive family for win-win cooperation or go for small blocs based on the Cold War mentality and group confrontation?”

Chinese officials have blamed NATO’s expansion for triggering the crisis in Ukraine. China, like India, has abstained from UN resolutions targeting Russia. Beijing has, however, gone further by blaming the U.S. and NATO for the crisis and calling for Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” to be addressed.

If there have been some broad similarities in the responses of China and India to Ukraine — from abstaining at the UN to calling for diplomacy and focusing on the evacuations of their nationals — one striking difference has been in China drawing a link between NATO’s actions in Europe and those of the U.S. and its partners and allies in Asia. 

Mr. Le is a former Ambassador to India and is tipped by some observers in Beijing to become China’s next Foreign Minister or a key figure in the foreign policy establishment following the once-in-five-year Party Congress set for November this year. The current Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to complete his term in March next year when the Parliament or National People’s Congress (NPC) will appoint a new Premier and Cabinet Ministers.

In his speech, Mr. Le compared NATO’s actions in Europe — which many observers in Beijing have argued justified Russia’s invasion, although China’s government has not explicitly said so — to those of the U.S. in Asia and warned that a crisis could follow in the region. 

“No country should pursue its so-called absolute security at the expense of other countries’ security. Otherwise, as the proverb goes, ‘One who tries to blow out other’s oil lamp will get his beard on fire.’ We must respect each other and not wantonly interfere in others’ internal affairs..... Imposition or interference in others’ internal affairs should be rejected, and there is no need for ‘saviours’ or ‘lecturers,’” he said.