UN chief warns China, US to avoid new Cold War

CAMEROON – As a warning of a possible new Cold War, the head of the United Nations pleaded with China and the United States to repair their “utterly dysfunctional” relationship before the problems between the two large and deeply influential countries spread even further to the rest of the world .

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to The Associated Press this weekend ahead of the United Nations’ annual meeting of world leaders this week – a convocation tainted by COVID, climate concerns and disputes around the world.

Guterres said the world’s two major economic powers should work together on climate and negotiate more robustly on trade and technology, even in the face of persistent political divisions over human rights, economics, online safety and sovereignty in the South China Sea.

“Unfortunately we only have confrontation today,” Guterres said in an AP interview on Saturday.

“We need to restore a working relationship between the two powers,” he said, calling it “essential to addressing the problems of vaccination, the problems of climate change and many other global challenges that cannot be resolved without constructive relationships within the international community “. Community and especially among the superpowers. “

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Two years ago, Guterres warned world leaders of the risk of the world being divided in two, with the United States and China creating rival internet, currency, trade and financial rules “and their own zero-sum geopolitical and military strategies.” .

He reiterated this warning in the AP interview, adding that two rival geopolitical and military strategies would pose “threats” and divide the world. Therefore, the failed relationship must be repaired – and soon.

“We must at all costs avoid a cold war that is different from the previous one and would probably be more dangerous and difficult to manage,” said Guterres.

The so-called Cold War between the Soviet Union and its allies in the Eastern Bloc and the United States and its Western allies began immediately after World War II and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was a clash of two nuclear superpowers with rival ideologies – communism and Authoritarianism on the one hand, capitalism and democracy on the other.

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The UN chief said a new cold war could be more dangerous because the Soviet-American antipathy had clear rules and both sides were aware of the danger of nuclear destruction. That led to back channels and forums “to guarantee things wouldn’t get out of hand,” he said.

“Today everything is more fluid and even the experiences that existed in the past in dealing with crises are no longer available,” said Guterres.

He said the US-UK deal to give Australia nuclear submarines so it could operate undetected in Asia “is just a small piece of a more complex puzzle … this utterly dysfunctional relationship between China and the United States”.

The secretly negotiated deal angered China and France, who had signed a contract with Australia for at least $ 66 billion for a dozen French conventional diesel-electric submarines.

In the far-reaching AP interview, the Secretary General also addressed three important issues that the heads of state and government will be grappling with this week: the worsening climate crisis, the still raging pandemic and the uncertain future of Afghanistan under its new Taliban rulers . They took power without a fight from the US-trained government army on August 15, when American forces were in the final phase of withdrawal from the country after 20 years.

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What role will the United Nations play in the new Afghanistan? Guterres called it “a fantasy” to believe that United Nations involvement “will suddenly be able to produce an inclusive government, guarantee that all human rights are respected, to guarantee that there will never be terrorists in Afghanistan that drug trafficking will ”. stop.”

After all, the United States and many other countries have thousands of soldiers in Afghanistan and have spent trillions of dollars and are unable to solve the country’s problems – and some say they made them worse.

Although the United Nations has “limited capacity and influence,” it plays a key role in efforts to deliver humanitarian rights to Afghans, especially women and girls, he said.

“There is clearly a power struggle within different groups in the Taliban leadership. The situation is not yet resolved, “he said, adding another reason why the international community should grapple with the Taliban.

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While former US President Donald Trump was tied to an “America First” policy, President Joe Biden – who will make his first appearance as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the high-level session of the General Assembly on Tuesday – reaffirmed US commitment to multilateral institutions.

Guterres said Biden’s commitment to global climate action, including the resumption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, from which Trump withdrew, is “probably the most important of all”.

He said there was “an entirely different environment in relations” between the United Nations and the United States under Biden. But Guterres said, “I’ve done everything – and I’m proud of it – to make sure that we maintain a working relationship with the United States in the past administration.”

Guterres also lamented the failure of countries to work together to fight global warming and ensure that people in every country are vaccinated.

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Speaking of the past year of the COVID-19 battles, he said, “We have made no real progress in terms of effectively coordinating global efforts.”

As for the climate: “A year ago we saw a clearer movement in the right direction, and that movement has slowed down in the recent past. So we have to accelerate again if we don’t run into a catastrophe. “

Guterres called it “totally unacceptable” that in his home country Portugal 80% of the population were vaccinated, while in many African countries less than 2% of the population were vaccinated.

“It is completely stupid to defeat the virus, but if the virus spreads like wildfire in the global south there will be more mutations,” he said. “And we know that mutations make it more transferable. more dangerous. “

He called on the 20 major global economic powers in the G20, which failed to take joint action against COVID-19 in early 2020, to create the conditions for a global vaccination plan. Such a plan would have to bring vaccine-producing countries together with international financial institutions and pharmaceutical companies to double production and ensure fair distribution.

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“I think that’s possible,” said Guterres. “That depends on the political will.”

The secretary-general said rich developed countries spend about 20% of their GDP on recovery problems, middle-income countries about 6% and the least developed countries 2% of a small GDP. This has created frustration and distrust in parts of developing countries that have not received vaccines or help with recovery.

The gap between the developed countries in the north and the developing countries in the south “is very dangerous to global security,” said Guterres, “and it is very dangerous to the ability to bring the world together to fight climate change.”

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Edith M. Lederer, senior UN correspondent for The Associated Press, has been reporting internationally for almost 50 years. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EdithLedererAP

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