Ken Livingstone 與中國的冷戰突然到來

與中國的冷戰突然到來

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/no-new-cold-war-china

2023 年 4 月 8 日

在短短幾年內，我們已經從慶祝與中國的聯係轉變為撕毀重要關係並為軍事衝突鋪平道路——我們現在必須反對奧庫斯和新的核軍備競賽，肯·利文斯通寫道

2015 年，習近平和前首相戴維·卡梅倫在一家酒吧

作為一個經曆過針對蘇聯及其盟國的第一次冷戰的人，並且在政治上的一些重要方麵受到了冷戰的影響——包括我數十年來對核武器的反對——我非常清楚地看到了令人沮喪的跡象 美國、英國和其他少數國家煽動針對中國的新冷戰。

在英國，我們看到：

● 與中國電信巨頭華為的蓬勃發展關係因美國的堅持而破裂，導致5G基礎設施被從我們的網絡中剔除，增加了財政部的成本，並使我們陷入寬帶慢車道。

● 禁止政府設備上廣受歡迎的 TikTok 應用程序。

● 攻擊和威脅關閉孔子學院，孔子學院在減少中國語言和文化教學方麵的教育赤字方麵發揮著不可估量的作用。

● 以可疑的國家安全為由實施製裁並拒絕中國公司投資，導致美國失去就業、市場和技術提升。

● 在伊恩·鄧肯·史密斯等右翼分子的煽動下，禁止中國大使踏足威斯敏斯特宮。

毫不奇怪，這一切，再加上唐納德·特朗普及其國際盟友試圖將新冠疫情歸咎於中國，導致針對華人和亞裔社區成員的種族主義攻擊激增。

去年的保守黨領袖競選變成了一場毫無教益的逐底競賽，裏希·蘇納克被利茲·特拉斯拖入其中。 如果特拉斯沒有在創紀錄的時間內被可恥地趕下台，她將正式宣布中國為我國的敵人。 目前，蘇納克聲稱中國“是一個與我們價值觀根本不同的國家，它對世界秩序構成了挑戰”。

中國的崛起是我一生中世界曆史上最偉大的事件之一。 我出生時，中國的預期壽命不到40歲。大約90%的人口是文盲。 這個國家因一個世紀以來的外國侵略、入侵、軍閥割據和內戰而四分五裂。 每年有數百萬人死於洪水和饑荒。

這與今天的中國形成鮮明對比，中國即將超越美國成為世界上最大的經濟體 — — 這是一個多世紀以來從未見過的變化。 中國的預期壽命已經超過美國。

根據世界銀行的數據，中國已使約8億人擺脫了貧困。

這種經濟轉型是所有正直的人都應該歡迎的。

當前針對中國的新冷戰與幾年前形成了鮮明對比。 隨著2015年習近平主席的國事訪問，英國首相戴維·卡梅倫和財政大臣喬治·奧斯本宣布我們的關係進入了“黃金時代”。 如今，即使是稍微附和他們的話，也被視為實際上的叛國行為。

20年前，當我2000年當選倫敦市長時，我就堅定了倫敦與中國發展積極關係的決心。 無論是作為世界領先的金融中心，還是歐洲最大的華人社區的所在地，這對我來說都是一個必要且自然的行動方針。

通過訪問中國，我們的同行顯然同樣致力於發展繁榮互利的關係。 當然，我的政策已在保守黨媒體上公布，但我們堅持不懈。

我們在倫敦、北京和上海設立了辦事處，鼓勵在證券交易所上市，將一年一度的中國新年慶祝活動帶到了特拉法加廣場，並擴大了時尚、設計和創意產業等各個領域的合作。

《每日郵報》可能不喜歡它，但我們得到了從倫敦金融城董事會到唐人街餐館的支持，它給每個倫敦人帶來了好處。

這些是今天需要的政策。 和平與繁榮的政策。 這些政策得到了最多元化的工黨領袖的廣泛支持，從托尼·布萊爾到戈登·布朗、埃德·米利班德到傑裏米·科爾賓。

可悲的是，他們現在幾乎沒有得到基爾·斯塔默和他的影子外交大臣大衛·拉米的回應。 他們的政治視野似乎僅限於試圖超越保守黨，看看誰可以成為最好戰的冷戰戰士。

正是這種新的政治共識導致了魯莽的冒險，比如我們與澳大利亞和美國加入的奧庫斯協議。

這項協議將讓澳大利亞裝備核動力潛艇，耗資數十億美元，藐視核不擴散條約（NPT），

並增加了與核國家中國發生災難性戰爭的危險。

所有這一切都是在我們麵臨生活成本危機的時候發生的，越來越多的人不再被迫在取暖和吃飯之間做出選擇，因為他們買不起。

護士和小學教師是越來越依賴食品銀行的關鍵工作人員，而食品銀行又發現越來越難以滿足對他們日益增長的需求。

然而，政府致力於大幅增加軍費開支，這一水平已經是世界上最高的。

在經濟麵臨巨大困難的情況下，我們竟然放棄中國市場提供的巨大機遇，而在核武器上浪費巨額資金，以煽動潛在的衝突，這簡直就是一場淫穢的鬧劇。 會殺死數百萬人，完全沒有必要，而且我們不可能贏得勝利。

與中國的冷戰不符合英國人民的利益，新的核武器擴散也是如此。

勞工運動中的進步人士需要反對他們，並建立盡可能廣泛的聯盟來扭轉災難的局麵。

您可以在 Twitter @Ken4London 和 Facebook @KenLivingstoneOfficial 上關注 Ken。

The sudden arrival of a cold war with China

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/no-new-cold-war-china

APRIL 8, 2023

Within a few short years we have gone from celebrating links with China to ripping up essential relationships and paving the ground for military conflict — we must now oppose Aukus and a new nuclear arms race, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE

Xi Jinping and former PM David Cameron in a pub in 2015

AS SOMEONE who lived through the first cold war against the Soviet Union and its allies, and who was in some important respects politically shaped by it — including in terms of my decades-long opposition to nuclear weapons — I recognise all too well the depressing signs of a new cold war against China, being fomented by the US, Britain and a handful of other countries.

Here in Britain, we've seen:

● A thriving relationship with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei scuppered at US insistence, leaving 5G infrastructure to be ripped out of our networks, increasing costs to the Treasury and leaving us in the broadband slow lane.

● A ban on the massively popular TikTok app on government devices.

● Attacks and threats to close Confucius Institutes, which play an invaluable role in lessening our educational deficit in the teaching of Chinese language and culture.

● Sanctions and refusal of investment from Chinese companies on dubious national security grounds, costing us jobs, markets and technical upskilling.

● A ban on the Chinese ambassador setting foot in the Palace of Westminster, instigated by a vociferous gang of right-wingers like Iain Duncan Smith.

Not surprisingly, all this, along with the attempts to blame China for the Covid pandemic from Donald Trump and his allies internationally, has led to an upsurge in racist attacks on members of Chinese and Asian communities.

Last year’s Conservative Party leadership contest became an unedifying race to the bottom, to which Rishi Sunak was dragged by Liz Truss. Had she not been ignominiously booted out of office in record time, Truss was set to formally declare China as an enemy of our country. For now, Sunak claims that China “is a country with fundamentally different values to ours and it represents a challenge to the world order.”

The rise of China is one of the greatest events in world history in my lifetime. When I was born, life expectancy in China was under 40. Around 90 per cent of the population was illiterate. The country had been torn apart by a century of foreign aggression, invasion, warlordism and civil wars. Millions died every year from floods and famine.

What a contrast to today’s China, which is on the cusp of overtaking the US as the world’s greatest economy – a change unseen in over a century. China’s life expectancy has already overtaken that of the US.

Going on World Bank figures, China has lifted some 800 million people out of poverty.

This economic transformation is one that all decent people should welcome.

The present new cold war against China stands in stark contrast to the situation just a few years ago. With the 2015 state visit of President Xi Jinping, PM David Cameron and his chancellor George Osborne declared that our relations had entered a “golden era.” Today, to even remotely echo their words is regarded as practically treasonous.

Twenty years ago, when I was elected London mayor in 2000, I was determined that London would develop positive relations with China. Whether as the world’s leading financial centre or as home to Europe’s largest Chinese community, this was a necessary and natural course of action for me.

Visiting China, it was clear that our counterparts there were equally invested in a thriving and mutually beneficial relationship. Of course, my policies were slated in the Tory press, but we pressed on.

We opened offices for London in Beijing and Shanghai, encouraged Stock Exchange listings, brought the annual celebration of Chinese New Year to Trafalgar Square, and expanded co-operation in a whole range of sectors, such as fashion, design and the creative industries.

The Daily Mail may not have liked it, but we were supported from the boardrooms of the City to the restaurants of Chinatown, and it brought benefits to every Londoner.

These are the policies that are needed today. Policies for peace and prosperity. Policies that were broadly supported by the most diverse range of Labour leaders, from Tony Blair through Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband to Jeremy Corbyn.

Sadly, they now find little or no echo from Keir Starmer and his shadow foreign secretary David Lammy. Their political horizons seem confined to attempting to outdo the Tories as to who can be the most bellicose cold warrior.

It is this new establishment political consensus that is leading to reckless adventures like the Aukus deal we have joined with Australia and the US.

This agreement, which will see Australia equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, will cost billions, flouts the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and heightens the danger of a catastrophic war with China, a nuclear power.

All this at a time when we face a cost-of-living crisis where an increasing number of people aren’t being forced to choose between heating and eating because they can’t afford either.

Where nurses and primary school teachers are among key workers increasingly reliant on food banks, which in turn are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the ever-growing demands placed on them.

Yet the government is committed to a massive increase in military spending levels that are already amongst the highest in the world.

And it is simply an obscene farce that, in this situation of huge economic difficulties, we should turn our backs on the huge opportunities offered by the Chinese market, in favour of squandering immense sums on nuclear arms, as part of stoking a potential conflict that would kill millions, would be utterly unnecessary, and which we couldn’t possibly win.

A cold war with China is against the interests of the British people, as is a new nuclear arms proliferation.

Progressives in the labour movement need to stand against them — and build the broadest possible alliance to reverse the slide to disaster.

You can follow Ken on Twitter @Ken4London and Facebook @KenLivingstoneOfficial.