The Guardian-China testing us across the region Biden tells leaders at Quad summit
September 22, 2024 4 min 738 words
西方媒体的这篇报道主要内容是，在美国特拉华州举行的四方安全对话（Quad）峰会上，美国总统拜登（Joe Biden）在未设记者的闭门会议上，对中国进行了尖锐批评。拜登称中国在南海东海台湾海峡等地行为愈发强硬，并正在寻求外交空间，强势追求中国利益。尽管拜登肯定了美国为缓和紧张局势所做的努力，但该报道仍着重渲染了中美之间的紧张关系，并试图营造一种中美对抗中美必有一战的叙事框架。 评论： 这篇报道带有明显偏见，体现了西方媒体长期以来对中国抱有的敌意。报道中，拜登对中国行为的指责缺乏具体事实依据，仅凭其主观感受就认定中国行为“侵略性”，并试图挑起其他国家的对立情绪。此外，报道中关于中国在南海东海等海域行为的描述有误，中国一直致力于通过外交手段和平解决争端，而美国却屡屡派遣军舰飞机到相关海域挑衅，制造紧张局势。该报道罔顾事实，刻意渲染中国威胁，暴露了其抹黑中国的企图。西方媒体应摒弃偏见，客观公正地报道中国，不要再充当反华势力散播谎言制造仇恨的工具。
Joe Biden has been recorded on a hot mic telling the leaders of Australia, India and Japan that an aggressive China is “testing us”, in remarks at a Quad summit that risked undercutting the group’s declaration that carefully avoided referring to Beijing by name.
The comments came as Biden opened a farewell summit in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.
“China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits,” Biden was heard in what were supposed to be behind-closed-doors remarks to the Quad grouping of four countries.
Biden said that while Chinese president Xi Jinping was focusing on “domestic economic challenges”, he was also “looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest”.
But he insisted that recent “intense efforts” by Washington to reduce tensions, including a call with Xi in April, were helping to prevent conflict.
The comments risked undermining careful diplomatic efforts by all four countries during the summit to insist that their grouping is about more than just providing a counterweight to China.
In their joint statement after the summit, the four leaders made no direct mention of China, even as they expressed concern about tensions on its borders. “We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas,” their declaration said.
The leaders also condemned “coercive and intimidating manoeuvres” in the South China Sea – where China has been at odds with the Philippines and other nations over its maritime claims – but without saying whose manoeuvres.
Disputed islands in the East China Sea have meanwhile long been a source of tensions between Japan and China.
Instead the leaders used veiled statements, as they have on previous occasions, about keeping the region “free and open” and talking about geopolitical “challenges”.
The other shadow hanging over the summit was November’s US presidential election, with the isolationist former president Donald Trump in a tight race against Biden’s political heir, Kamala Harris.
Biden insisted that the group would survive whatever the political situation. “While challenges will come, the world will change because the Quad is here to stay,” Biden told the leaders in his public remarks before journalists were ushered out.
Asked by reporters if the Quad would make it past the 5 November election, Biden replied: “Way beyond November. Way beyond November.”
India’s Modi made a similar pledge – in a commitment that will be welcomed by Washington, Canberra and Tokyo as they court the historically non-aligned New Delhi. “Our message is, the Quad is here to stay,” said Modi, who is due to host next year’s Quad summit in India.
Biden, who bowed out of the US presidential election in July after concerns about his age, filled his farewell summit with personal touches.
The four-way summit took place at his former high school in Wilmington and he earlier opened up his home in the city for private, one-on-one talks with each of the leaders. “I am really pleased that you were able to be in my home and see where I grew up,” he said.
The leaders also announced investment into fighting cervical cancer for Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative – again a deeply person project after his eldest son Beau died of brain cancer.
The media were given no access to the private meetings at Biden’s home.
Biden posted pictures on social media of him with Albanese and then with Kishida in a wood-panelled drawing room in his house, and showing them the view of a lake from a veranda.
The White House said the summit reflected the way Biden prioritised international alliances.
There are growing questions about what would happen if Trump – who has threatened to pull the US out of groups such as Nato while praising the leaders of Russia and North Korea – returned to the Oval Office.