Why has China repeatedly called on the international community to abandon the Cold War mentality?

Question

As we all know, the Cold War ended at the end of the last century, but today, 30 years later, China has repeatedly called on the international community to abandon the Cold War mentality on diplomatic occasions. This makes me very confused. Because in my opinion, there is no such extreme opposition in the world as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Every country is inseparable from world trade, and cultural exchanges between countries are very frequent. Although there are still wars in a few areas, there is no possibility of a cold war.

So why would China make such an appeal on an international occasion? In other words, were there really factors that might have led to a Cold War?

Answer 1

Chinese officials typically talk like that when the topic is Taiwan or something else where the US opposes them, e.g. the AUKUS deal and what not.

This can even be stuff where the opposition isn't that obvious e.g. "China sees ‘Cold War mentality’ in US-Vietnam pact, Vietnamese disagree"

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning advised Washington to discard its “hegemonic and Cold War mentality” when asked about Trong and Biden signing up to a comprehensive strategic partnership equal to Beijing’s own relations with Vietnam.

Sometimes such critiques go hand in hand with a call/emphasis on an Asian identity, e.g.

In a thinly veiled swipe at the US, Wang said: “For geopolitical reasons, a certain major power outside the region has deliberately exaggerated our ideological differences, organized all kinds of cliques for the purpose of excluding others, tried to replace cooperation with confrontation, and unity with division," transcript of his speech released by China's foreign ministry read.

During his conversation with the guests attending the forum, Wang said: "Europeans and Americans can't distinguish between Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans."

"No matter how yellow our hair is dyed or how sharp we change our nose, we can't become Westerners. We should know where our roots are," Wang told the main group of guests, according to Chinese daily Global Times.

AFAIK, North Korean or Russian actions are never painted in those "Cold War mentality" terms though, by Chinese officials.

OTOH, Xi Jinping has rather transparently denounced the US and its allies for imposing sanctions on Russia, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in those terms.

Nations need to “reject the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose unilateral sanctions and abuse of sanctions, and reject the small circles built around hegemonism by forming one big family belonging to a community with a shared future for humanity”, Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. [...]

Xi said imposing sanctions could act as a “boomerang” and a “double-edged sword,” and the global community would suffer from “politicising, mechanising and weaponising” global economic trends and financial flows.

Yeah, if you really squint there, the first part of that phrase might be a veiled swipe at Russia too, but it's a far more obvious one against NATO.

In somewhat less official/high-profile sources [but probably officially sanctioned to some extent], Chinese media explains that not condemning Russia's invasion is part of the core tenets of China being in the non-aligned movement.

Non-alignment is both the core and a key premise, demonstrating China's independence in making policies and refusing to attach to or submit itself to others. China does not ally itself with any country, including Russia.

The principle of non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party is enshrined in the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation Between China and Russia signed in 2001.

(N.B. China is officially allied with North Korea in a formal military sense of a having a mutual defense pact. I'm not sure why China Daily glosses over that.)

OTOH economic globalization is described in materialist-dialectic terms as the inevitable future of mankind (both by Xi and some Chinese premier), so anyone opposed to China's vision of globalization has cold war mentality (according to them).

“Economic globalisation is an objective requirement for the development of productive forces and an irresistible historical trend,” Xi said.

or

“We have to abandon the Cold War mentality, try to understand the essence of things from the perspective of material duality, endeavor to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and join hands to respond to global challenges,” Liu said, according to a translation. “We believe that an equitable international economic order must be preserved by all of us.”

Answer 2

Question:

Why has China repeatedly called on the international community to abandon the Cold War mentality?

For numerous reasons China's economy is tanking. mismanagement, xenophobia, corruption, protectionism, theft of intellectual property, and military adventurism. One and perhaps the easiest solution for China would be foreign investment and renewed strong trade commitments from the west which have been there for china in the recent past. Those investments and trade however are not there now due to some of the previously mentioned issues.

When China calls for an end to "Cold War" mentality? It's a call for western companies and countries to come and save their bacon. It's not a demonstration of self awareness in how China has contributed and continues to contribute to the souring of the relationship and frustration which western companies have with China.

This is not to say that the west is going to break economically with China entirely. It is to say it's not 2016 any longer.

1. mismanagement

   • China Pays for Economic Mismanagement

2. xenophobia

   • Xenophobia In China Keeps Getting Worse, Foreigners In Danger

3. corruption

   • The truth about Chinese corruption

4. protectionism

   • China's technology protectionism and it's non negotiable

5. theft of intellectual property

   • Egregious Cases of Chinese Theft of American Intellectual Property

6. military adventurism.

   • China borders 14 countries.
   • China has border disputes with 23 countries

Addressing China’s Military Aggression in the Indo-Pacific Region

Across much of the Indo-Pacific region, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using military and economic coercion to bully its neighbors, advance unlawful maritime claims, threaten maritime shipping lanes, and destabilize territory along the periphery of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

China's foreign ministry steps up threats against Taiwan

From the Comments:

@alamar It's a huge leap of faith to claim that Chinese economy is tanking. Betweeb the US layoffs and German deindustrialization what is the case of China?

1. U.S. unemployment is at record lows and have been at record lows for nearly 2 years.
2. Germany has the strongest industrial economy in Europe and has for decades.
3. Saying the Chinese economy is tanking isn't a personal belief.

China’s Economy Is in Serious Trouble author: Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner in Economics

In 2023, the U.S. economy vastly outperformed expectations. A widely predicted recession never happened. Many economists (though not me) argued that getting inflation down would require years of high unemployment; instead, we’ve experienced immaculate disinflation, rapidly falling inflation at no visible cost.

But the story has been very different in the world’s biggest economy (or second biggest — it depends on the measure). Some analysts expected the Chinese economy to boom after it lifted the draconian “zero Covid” measures it had adopted to contain the pandemic. Instead, China has underperformed by just about every economic indicator other than official G.D.P., which supposedly grew by 5.2 percent.

But there’s widespread skepticism about

or if you don't like that source.

• China's economy is in serious trouble
• After bumpy recovery, China’s economy faces serious headwinds in 2024
• China’s Deflation: Another ‘Tell’ Of Serious Economic Trouble
• Why China’s economy won’t be fixed

An increasingly autocratic government is making bad decisions

• China’s Economy Faces Deepening Troubles in Years Ahead
• Five big uncertainties facing the Chinese economy in 2024

The Chinese economy’s rebound started slowly last spring, shaking off the effects of an estimated 1.41 million excess deaths from the pandemic and China’s zero-COVID policies. Today, although growth will likely meet the government’s 5 percent target for 2023, the Chinese economy remains troubled, plagued by flat private investment, flagging consumer confidence, and high youth unemployment. Falling prices and depressed business and consumer confidence are flashing warning signs about the year ahead.

@alamar Again, isn't this the general economic signs of 2024 around the globe? "Remaining troubled" is not the same as "tanking". Japan is remaining troubled for 35 years now and is feeling OK. –

If you read any of those articles I pointed you too, you will note that China's issues aren't general, and aren't related to the global covid slowdown, which didn't help anybody. China is facing some rather large systemic issues specific to itself. Japan is a good analogy. The issues aren't likely to collapse the Chinese economy (aka the Soviet Union). But as I said in my answer, it's not 2016 any longer.

Answer 3

I'm not surprised that China has called for this. Looking at the international scene today with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the host of Western commentators dusting off cold war rhetoric in their characterisation of Russia and of Putin in particular and also all the sabre rattling by the West against China it does very much looks like a cold war lite.

Had NATO been dismantled at the end of the cold war thirty years in favour of a new security architecture for the whole of Europe - both East & West - as was called for by Senator Jack Matlock, the last but one ambassador to the Soviet Union - then perhaps we wouldn't be in the situation we are today.