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By Michelle Nichols
NEW YORK (Reuters) – As China and the United States fought at the United Nations this week over COVID-19 and the weather, one of the world’s smallest states called for detente.
“Micronesia calls on our American and Chinese friends to strengthen their cooperation and friendship … to achieve the best for our global community,” Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo told the UN General Assembly at a video.
Micronesia, with a population of about 113,000, and its Pacific Island neighbors have long been caught in a diplomatic tug of war between the world’s major economic powers as China seizes influence from the United States in a region that Washington It has considered your backyard since World War II.
During his speech on Friday at the meeting of world leaders, prerecorded due to the pandemic, Panuelo acknowledged that the competition had been beneficial for some people in the Pacific.
But he warned that the efforts “also potentially threaten to fracture longstanding alliances within our Pacific community and could backfire on our collective desire for regional solidarity, security and stability.”
The showdown between the United States and China is now unfolding in the 193-member United Nations, where Beijing has pushed for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to traditional US leadership. Tensions between the two superpowers have reached a boiling point in the world body over the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Micronesia’s request was highlighted during the annual, albeit virtual, meeting of world leaders at the United Nations this week because while most countries called for unity to combat COVID-19, other references to frictions between the United States and China were generally indirect.
The UN director of the International Crisis Group, Richard Gowan, said most leaders want to avoid becoming entangled in tensions.
“Many of the UN members think the United States is destructive and China is power-hungry. They don’t find anything very attractive,” he said. “Ambitious Europeans like (French President Emmanuel) Macron see an opportunity to fill the leadership vacuum, so they are ready to challenge Beijing and Washington.”
RIVALRY
Macron addressed the General Assembly on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump demanded that China be held accountable for having “unleashed” COVID-19 in the world, prompting Beijing to accuse him of “lies.” and abusing the UN platform to provoke a confrontation.
“The world as it is today cannot be reduced to a simple rivalry between China and the United States, regardless of the global weight of these two great powers, regardless of the history that unites us,” Macron said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also warned that the world is heading in a dangerous direction and “cannot afford a future in which the two largest economies divide the world in a Great Fracture, each with its own trade rules. and financial and Internet capabilities and artificial intelligence “. “
In the Pacific, China has been forging stronger economic ties with small island nations and pulling countries out of its long-term alliances with Taiwan, beating Kiribati and the Solomon Islands last year.
China regards Taiwan as its own territory without the right to establish links between states. Four of Taiwan’s 15 remaining diplomatic allies are in the Pacific: Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands. All four states spoke in support of Taiwan during their leaders’ speeches at the United Nations.
Though small in land mass, Pacific nations control vast swaths of highly strategic waters, forming a boundary between the Americas and Asia. As oceans warm and sea levels rise, they are also on the front lines of the global climate crisis.
“I am hopeful … that the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China will jointly advocate for global causes of global solidarity and cooperation, from climate change to COVID-19,” said Panuelo.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Edited by Mary Milliken and Sandra Maler)
