SOURCE: BBC
China has confirmed it’s been invited to join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, but it has not yet said that it is willing to take part. Instead, it has voiced serious doubts.
“China has always practised true multilateralism. No matter how the international situation changes, China firmly upholds the UN-centred international system,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing this week.
Chinese state media was a little more critical and questioned whether this committee was “truly for peace”, while also raising concerns that the US president was creating a “private club or corporate board of directors with a billion-dollar price tag”.
China’s main concern is that Trump wants to replace the United Nations. The US president was asked earlier this week if it could and he replied: “Well, it might.”
This will horrify China. Beijing is a founding member of the UN and has been making a concerted effort to expand its global influence from within the organisation. It is a permanent member of the Security Council which helps reinforce its status as a world power.
China will not be keen to be just one of many members of a Board of Peace created by the US, where Beijing may not be seen as Washington’s equal and where the last word would likely come from Trump.
But it also won’t want to openly criticise Trump at a time when ties between China and the US are stable.
Instead, publicly Beijing is taking the diplomatic high road and emphasising the importance of the UN Charter.
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