By Bouthaina Shaaban – May 14, 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe was a strong, timely, and wise statement amid the current world and regional chaos, a statement in favor of all of the people in the world who are looking for an alternative order in a global community, which at the moment stands orderless.
The entire process of the so-called mediation and negotiation to stop the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has proven one thing: that the Zionist Israeli government is determined to annihilate the Palestinian people and exterminate all of them. It is also determined to build its “state” on their skulls and bones amid the absence of a real international community or any trace of international law and human rights law, coupled with the full military, financial, and political support of the US government for this genocide. In its war of genocide against Palestinians, the Zionist entity has defiled and desecrated all human and moral rules in the most horrendous way.
Yet, with the exception of the noble actions of university students who tried to preserve the honor of their countries as well as the lives of Palestinians, one can say that most of the world’s reaction to the magnitude of people’s tragedy is shameful indeed. This is the first time we watch the deeply vicious violation of the sanctity of human life, culture, and religion unfold live before our eyes. To rape a woman in front of her family members and to kill them when they object is the nastiest crime any person can perpetrate, yet no arrest warrant is issued for those who gave the orders or for those who perpetrate the act.
This dubious and treacherous position by countries around the world is sharply contrasted by the voting of 143 countries in favor of granting Palestine the status of a state in the General Assembly. The same draft resolution was vetoed by the US in the Security Council a few weeks ago. The lesson derived from that and from many other similar examples is that the US government, this gigantic military power, truly stands in the way of achieving justice, not only for Palestinians but for many other people in different countries in the world. It is the US that incites conflicts and wars and totally undermines any authority that may challenge its hegemony and domination over international will and the legitimate aspirations of peoples.
Perhaps that is why the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to three European countries has received such attention, prompting a torrent of analysis articles, disinformation, and commentary in Western media. The visit in itself was a strong, timely, and wise statement amid the current world and regional chaos, a statement, not only in favor of the Chinese people, as he visited Belgrade on the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia, but in favor of all of the people in the world who are looking for an alternative order in a global community which at the moment stands orderless.
It was truly interesting to read many Western reviews of Xi’s visit, reviews which in many instances made me smile in disbelief. Whether it be the British BBC or The Guardian, or Reuters or EuroNews or Foreign Policy, you come out with the strange feeling that Western agencies still think that they have a case, or that they have the weight or the credibility to assess and judge what others are saying or doing. This is multiplied a thousand times when they have the nerve to speak about President Xi, who weighs every word or statement in his narrative, and who has a far-sighted, clear, and impressive vision, not only for China but for the global community at large and its future.
What President Xi Jinping is providing as an alternative to the entire world is a system of shared destiny on the basis of sovereignty and territorial integrity for all parties, one based on cooperation and consultation, which takes into account the concerns of all parties. He addressed the French president by saying that China and France are two permanent members of the Security Council who can contribute to world peace and stability. President Xi advocates dialogue and consultation in all economic and trade issues and all issues of joint or common interest and concern, “We shall jointly confront hegemony and the politics of power,” Xi said to the Serbian president.
One commentary in Reuters after the departure of the Chinese President from France read: “Xi left France on Tuesday after a two day trip during which he offered no major concession on trade or foreign policy, even as President Macron pressed him on market access and Ukraine.” The West is used to exerting pressure on others and extracting concessions from them. This is the only language the West understands and the only success they acknowledge.
The Chinese President is coming from a totally different perspective and working for an absolutely different purpose. Wouldn’t it be shocking for any Western official to know that the free trade deal between China and Serbia will guarantee tariff-free exports for 95% of Serbian products to China over the next five to ten years? When the European Union negotiated a partner agreement with Syria in 2009-2010, they wanted to impose conditions of drowning the Syrian market with European goods, allowing only a very meager amount of Syrian products to enter European markets – Syria refused to sign the draft agreement.
Western media blamed Serbia, Hungary, and China for not condemning what they called a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tried to accuse China of driving a wedge between European countries. The West also has the nerve to talk about “human rights abuses in China.” President Xi was speaking as a statesman who cares about every human soul in the world, one who is building roads, belts, and economic corridors for any country who shares his vision and global concerns. He doesn’t have the Western mindset that boasts the repatriation of 11 Western citizens (six Canadians, four Dutch, and one Finnish) from al-Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria, which are occupied by American forces, while leaving 30,000 people from more than 60 countries in a concentration camp under their rule.
President Xi is coming from an absolutely different place, armed with a clear and deep vision for a global community with a shared future in which all countries and all people enjoy peace, prosperity, equal respect, equal integrity, and equal human rights. In such a world, no government would be allowed to perpetrate genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians with the full complicity of the West.
